Step-Somethings
by Awesome one
Summary: Taking online college classes and dodging her fathers hand was how she lived but then Elsa's world gets changed in more ways than one when her fathers girlfriend Irene and her daughter Anna move in with them. She finds herself immediately drawn to the bubbly young woman who is suppose to be her new sister but lines begin to blur they venture into a relationship kept hidden. Modern.
1. Chapter 1

**Before we begin it should be said there will be mentions of abuse in the past and details of current abuse given and taken. There will also be minor incest so if that isn't really your interest then you should back out now while you still can. Thank you. **

It's hot in a way that the heat filtering through her room presses through the layers of her clothes, sticking to her sweaty skin, and makes all of her feel sluggish with an unseen weight that can't be lifted despite how hard the little air conditioner plugged in near her desk tried. Summer was certainly in full swing and the dreadful sun had reached it's highest point in the cloudless sky outside, giving the little people below yet another sweltering day to deal with. Days like this only made Elsa wish that she possessed some kind of magic ability like the characters she wrote about in her many short stories day after day so she could make it winter in her room while it boiled with summer heat outside. Of course that type of thinking was pure ridiculousness but with an imagination like Elsa's it was one of those little happy thoughts that made this oppressive summer just a little better and brought the smallest of smiles to her usually somber face.

Sweat slipped down the line of her spine to soak into the hem of her shirt riding up above the small dimples in her lower back, dampening the now filthy tank top even further, but she couldn't be bothered with it. All of her focus and energy was being put into the new story beneath her fingertips she had started last night on her faithful laptop when the heat had kept her awake and her mind had been restless with thoughts of what would be happening today. Currently she should be downstairs waiting with her father for the arrival of Irene, Ashton's new girlfriend, and her daughter who were moving in with them. Essentially, according to her father, this would mean Elsa would have a new mother and a sister so she should therein be excited but Elsa felt little more than terror over the prospect. Elsa had grown to become an, admittedly, beautiful young adult but she was socially inept after having spent a good portion of her childhood safely locked behind her own door away from the fear of her fathers wrath and the terrifying ordeal of having to make friends. Truthfully Elsa hadn't been a bright, smiling person who spoke freely with others since she was a child of only 8 years and her real mother ran off with another man, leaving behind a broken little girl and a grieving rage filled father. To have strangers move into her home, one of which would only be a few years younger than herself, made her want to curl in on herself and become a cocooned husk of a being that couldn't be touched, spoken to, or bothered by any outside force. It didn't help that in all the time her father had been dating this woman, getting to know this woman's apparently lovely daughter he spoke so highly of, Elsa had never been introduced to them. That shouldn't have hurt or surprised Elsa since Ashton was deeply disappointed and shamed with Elsa's very existence but it did. She was sure that if he could he would simply leave her locked in her room in the attic of his home, away from all other life, until she faded from his life to go on her own or died off. Nervous jitters had been rattling her bones since she had woken late this afternoon to couple with the anxiety induced stress running rampant through her every thought.

A knock on her door startled her from her intense character study writings and made her jump a little which knocked her laptop from her lap onto the plush ice blue comforter dressing her queen sized bed. Before she could compose herself the door to her room flew open and in stepped her always flawless looking father Ashton Dronning. Despite the heat he was dressed in an impressively crisp dress shirt and tie a darkly colored blazer was loosely buttoned over the top of and clashed in a pleasant way with the designer jeans incasing his legs. Ashton always was about dressing classy and in a way that showcased his great wealth no matter how uncomfortable it may be or how ridiculous it may seem. Every day was a day for a suit and tie. His near white blond hair was perfectly coifed in a beautiful comb over type look that remained in place even as the heat raged on and sweat threatened the hold of the fine layer of hair spray keeping it all together. That and his piercing blue eyes so clear they were like glass frosted over in the winter were the only two traits Elsa had been given by her father, everything else about her right down to her smile and her body shape were all her mother. Something that had been a blessing at the beginning of her life but, after her mother ran off, became a curse as each time he looked at his little Elsa all he saw was his ex wife the adulterer, the slut, and felt all consuming rage take over. Rage that he often took out on Elsa in form of bruising punches, sharp insults, and isolation in the four walls of her room. His eyes, portraying all the disappointment he held for his daughter, ran over Elsa's hunched over form seated on her bed with a critical eye. Under the weight of his stare she felt small and disgusting in her white skinny jeans and blue tank top that hung a little to low over her bust and was sticky with sweat.

"Elsa," His hard voice low in octave spoke above the pathetic hum of her barely working air conditioner and, on impulse, sent her spine straight, "Why aren't you dressed? You look like a bum and your hair is a mess." Her hand shot up to tangle in the messy waves of platinum blond hair spilling over both her shoulders in an unkempt style she hadn't bothered to mess with after her shower. Instinctually her fingers began working her long silky, though sweat damp, hair into an elaborate fishtail braid that hung off one shoulder clear down past her ample chest.

"I'm sorry father I didn't-"

Ashton cut her off with just a look hard in nature and brewing with the start of his painful furry, "Nothing can be done now. That plebeian look with have to do considering they are already here. Come down stairs to help with the boxes."

She complied in silence with her head down, ever the dutiful and submissive daughter. It took her a few moments to long to locate her shoes and as she slipped them on, tightening the laces against the to of her foot, she heard Ashton sigh in agitation for having to wait. Just the little noise made her stomach knot with anxiety and fear that if she made her father any more irritated with her he'd take to smashing his always hard fist against her cheek as he was wont to do. Already there was a string of still healing bruises yellow like a sickness against the pale skin of her ribs from two days ago when she dropped a plate while she was doing dishes. Ashton hadn't always been a violent man like this though. In fact Elsa could remember a time when he actually touched her with kindness and only had love for her in his eyes but that all disappeared like a dream once her mother left. Loss affected each person differently, that she knew and understood, she only wished he had dealt with his in a way that wasn't so detrimental to her physical and mental health. When she stood she tried not to feel that hurt swelling within her at the look of disappointment he shot towards her beat up converse. She knew later he would be reprimanding her for looking anything less than perfect in front of his new family whom he already loved more than he had ever loved her.

"Elsa." He stepped more into the room, closer into Elsa's personal space, and it was all she needed. The dangerous glint in his eyes not from her own and the clenching of his fists before he reached out to tuck in her loose tank top into the hem of her jeans told her all she needed to know. If she messed this up for him by being her regular idiot self he would make her regret it later. His hands jerked her roughly, spinning her around, to finish shoving the shirt in the back and she had to control herself from not squeaking pathetically when the large class ring on his finger caught the skin of her lower back and tore at it. He only grew more angry with her when she spoke or even made a noise of discomfort or pain especially when he was disciplining her as he called it.

"God it's pathetic," He finished and shoved her away towards the open door of her room, "You are an adult now and I still have to do this for you like your some sniveling child incapable of it. Sometimes I wonder if your even mine. Go."

She stumbled towards the stairs on always clumsy feet when her father was nearby, her nerves making her nearly incapable of just about everything, and worked hard on ignoring the constant sound of her fathers heavy footfall behind her. Against each step she heard it, overshadowing the demure way she walked, and it made her quake. To many times she had heard those steps against these stairs, thundering like the storm that was about to rage against her when he reached her and began punishing her for something she had done to anger her. After years of being alone in this house with only her father and his anger everything became a fear or an instinct. Footsteps and knocking became a fear. Apologizing and taking her punishment in silence became an instinct. Never had she stepped outside of that world to try or do anything different and she wouldn't even if Ashton had let her since she had grown accustomed to being isolated and grown afraid of anything she didn't know. Her crippling anxiety of the unknown coupled with the fact that often times Elsa was to bruised for makeup to even hide had led her to being home schooled most of her life. She knew nothing outside of Ashton and her room, this home and these halls yet somehow she found herself walking towards something different with the fear of her fathers footsteps behind her. Already she could hear the lilting voice of a woman coming from the pristine living room, speaking playful words tinged with happiness and adoration and it scared Elsa. Her skin prickled with little raised bumps all over and a fine tremble set into her muscles. Below, her feet began stalling on their own accord, probably trying help out their master by saving her from the experience of meeting someone new after years of simply being alone with herself but Ashton was having none of it. He jabbed his strong fingers into the center of her back roughly, knocking her forward from the last two steps of the stairs onto the flat wooden floor that separated the kitchen from the living room. The woman who the voice belonged to looked up and smiled at Elsa in a warm affectionate way that felt strange to Elsa as she hadn't seen anything like that except for in movies since being a child.

Assuming from the small lines running from the corners of this woman's cool blue eyes and her upturned bow mouth this was the mother, Irene Summers, that her father was in a fairly serious relationship with. Though she was clearly up there in age she was still obviously gorgeous, her aged but pretty face framed by long wispy tendrils of auburn hair that suited her soft tan well. Her slim build was fitted in a beautiful sun dress that looked similar to the one her father had bought her two days ago for her to wear for this very occasion and she had neglected to remember. The dainty set of heels her small feet were in clicked against the floor when she flounced over to pull Elsa into a warm, motherly hug as a greeting. Every muscle in Elsa's body tensed and rebelled against this embrace that was the first she had received in 12 years. Everything about it felt foreign and, like all things unknown to her, scared her deeply. Irene must have noticed by how unresponsive Elsa was to the hug that it was unwelcome and stepped away, smiling sheepishly in her embarrassment.

"I'm sorry sweetheart I didn't mean to startle you. We're just big on hugging in this family." Irene's voice was as pleasant as her smile and her soft sweet apology was. Without needing to look she knew her father was shooting her one of those warning looks for already having screwed up by putting Irene in this position due to her being uncomfortable with human contact. Elsa didn't respond verbally, wasn't sure how, so she just nodded and gave a small half shrug. Ashton stepped around her to loop his arm around Irene's slim hips and leaned down to press a kiss to the top of the woman's head, his eyes alight with an emotion he didn't direct towards her; love.

"Elsa this is Irene," He smiled at her though it held no real emotion until he turned it towards the woman he had fallen in love with, "Irene this is my daughter Elsa."

Irene smiled at Elsa with all the kindness and warmness she had always imagined a mother should have and held out a hand for Elsa to shake, "Hello Elsa it's nice to finally put a face to the name. And my, you do have a gorgeous face. All the boys must be going bonkers over you." Irene winked playfully and all Elsa did was knit her brows, confused as to why she would say something like that when Elsa knew, had been told repeatedly by Ashton, that she was simply average looking. Irene must be playing nice to get on her good side. She attempted a smile for the woman which came out looking as a tight lipped tilt of her usually passive mouth and shrugged.

Irene appeared a bit put off by Elsa's continuing silence, obviously not used to being around such a quiet and demure girl like Elsa, but plowed on regardless of the two-way discomfort for this situation, "So Ashton tells me your taking online college classes for creative writing? That's very cool. My daughter, Anna, she wants to go to college for acting once she graduates. She is 17 you know, only two years younger than you. I think you two will get along well."

Elsa had nearly forgotten about the daughter up until now. Her eyes cut to the open front door and, just down the paved walkway, she saw a massive cardboard box being walked forward by a pair of long legs in the tiniest denim shorts Elsa had ever seen and tanned willowy arms struggling to hold up the weight of whatever was in the box. A tiny little flutter of some kind of heat not like the nearly suffocating heat of this summer lit low in her belly the more she watched those strong fit thighs and the flex of the muscles cording the long arms holding the box. It was a feeling she had only ever felt a few other times when reading incredibly steamy smut in her vast collection of online books and after watching a few raunchy porn videos to verify whether or not the stirring she felt for the woman on tv instead of the men meant anything in regards to her sexuality.

"Oh," Irene's voice startled Elsa from her hazy lust filled thoughts and she turned her suddenly flushed cheeks towards the woman who was basically her new mother, "There she is now. Anna what are you doing? That box is bigger than you are dear!"

Dread brushed away the little swirling bits of want that had began gripping the tight muscles of Elsa's abdomen and filled her up with its slick worry. If that box with great legs was Anna then Elsa had just been ogling and imaging perverse things of her step-sister. Her eyes cut to her father but he had, thankfully, not been watching her but rather watching Anna as she had been with less want and more fatherly pride.

"It's okay Mom!" Anna's voice rose above the obscuring box in front of her face and most of her torso, "I've got this! I–oh crap! I don't got this!" Just as Anna had come up to the little one-step stair of their stoop just outside the lavish dark wood front door she had tried hefting the box with her body to step but fell back and now the box was beginning to from her grip while she struggled to regain her footing. Elsa rushed forward without truly thinking about it and was within reach to help Anna in seconds, her pale hands gripping the box from the bottom and holding it aloft between the two of them. Now, with it secured at waist height using their combined strength, Anna's balance was steadied and her face was revealed and not but a few inches away from Elsa's. All the breath in Elsa's body held still, neither going in nor out, as she momentarily forgot what it was to breath. If this girl was to be Elsa's sister then she was truly in trouble because after just this one look at Anna's beauty her heart immediately became smitten with the girl. Freckles spread from the bridge of Anna's nose like a wave that crashed and rolled off the sharp line of her defined cheek bones down across her sternum and into her shoulders on display thanks to the spaghetti strap shirt she wore. Even if Elsa herself had nearly invisible freckles along the high rise of her cheeks and the top of her nose that only showed up if she went outside, looking at Anna now, she had never been more fascinated by the small but perfect blemishes. Anna's cool blue eyes, clear and bright like a pool of sparkling water in the sun, widened eminently as did the white toothy smile spreading across her beautiful face. Strawberry blond hair that looked more red in this light than blond was pleated in twin braids on either side of her head, both thick braids falling across one of Anna's strong but decidedly feminine shoulders. Eyeing them drew Elsa's eyes to the swell of Anna's breasts and the ample amount of cleave on display thanks to the low neckline pushup bra combo she had going on. Her mouth went dry but she swallowed anyway, gulping down a large mouthful of hot air that burned as it slid down her suddenly parched throat. A gorgeous little giggle floated through the air and drew Elsa's gaze back to Anna's positively beaming face, little lights of mirth dancing through the blue of her irises.

"Hello there," Anna's voice was similar to her mothers in sound but sweeter if possible and it ran down her spine like a rush of cold water, "Thanks for saving my life."

Elsa floundered like a fish knocked on land, her lips parting open and closed in her desperate search for words. Seeing Elsa struggle made Anna giggle again and beneath the box they still held between them she nudged her foot against Elsa's calf. Immediately she took the hint and began walking backwards, stepping up over the one-step stoop Anna had struggled with and backed up through the doorway without taking her eyes off of Anna's exquisite face even once. Which would have been a good idea probably. Once they made it through the doorway onto the hardwood segue between rooms her heel caught on the leg of the hall table knocking her off her feet and sending her tumbling to the ground with the box on top of her. The hard edge of the box dug painfully into her stomach and its weight had hurt when gravity propelled it into her shortly after her ass had connected roughly with the non forgiving hardness of the floor. All the air whooshed out of her in one large breath that came out sounding more like a pained wheeze as that's what it was. Her head smashed into the floor and pain blossomed there, spreading across her scalp and sinking low into the plate like bones of her skull. She closed her eyes and went prone with the box still sitting on top of her as embarrassment washed through her when the realization of what just happened came to her in thought. Not only had she fallen but she had fallen in front of her (breathtaking) step-sister and her step-mother as well as her scowling father. When she cracked her eyes open she saw Ashton glaring at her from his spot at Irene's side and swallowed at nothing, the knot of anxiety in her stomach twisting a little tighter. He was furious with her.

"Sorry. I'm really sorry." Elsa hurried out in a voice so low it was almost a whisper and bled remorse. Her eyes were wide and sad when she moved the box off her stomach and heard something glass move around inside, knowing she had probably broken it when she fell.

"Wait, what? Why are you sorry? You fell, it's okay!" Anna knelt beside Elsa as if she were inspecting her face for anything broken or a gunshot wound, her manicured brows hung low over her worried eyes in concentration. A pretty pink suffused across her cheeks under Anna's worried gaze and she had to turn her head away, eyes cast down to the floor. A shuffling came from Elsa's right side and she looked over just in time to catch sight of Irene's hands coming down to lift her up by her arms.

"Oh sweetheart are you alright? That look like it hurt!" Irene's soft hands moved from her arms to brush at the back of her shirt, her fingertips skimming across the cut Ashton's ring had given her. She flinched and on instinct moved away from the touch that had hurt her, her eyes catching Irene's hurt look at being seemingly rejected obvious before Elsa dropped her eyes to her feet.

"I'm sorry I dropped your things. I'll pay for whatever I broke." When she spoke to Irene she did so without lifting her eyes or speaking to loudly, both things she just felt were making Ashton more and more upset with her. She felt a hand–warm and soft and so very perfect–slip into her own and glanced over to see freckles dusted across the top and the ridge of knuckles. Anna squeezed her fingers around Elsa's palm until she lifted her eyes to meet the smiling blue of Anna's.

"Don't worry so much. It's not even a big deal. It was just a bunch of my Mom's ugly junk."

"Excuse you! It was not ugly!" Irene huffed out and Anna giggled that delightful twinkling sound that made Elsa's ears sing and her heart soar.

"But it was junk." Mischievous delight darkened the color of Anna's eyes and Elsa found, looking at it, she had never seen anything quite as beautiful.

Irene cleared her throat in a mock haughty fashion, shifting her eyes from her daughter to the box then to Ashton, "Yes well...that's beside the point." Again Anna giggled, louder this time, in a girlish fashion that would normally never be attractive to Elsa but somehow Anna doing it made her insides turn to absolute mush. This was all so bad. Here was this girl who was meant to be her new sister, granted not in blood, but by the bond of their parents love and, probably soon, legally through marriage yet all Elsa felt for her was a romantic need to be close to Anna in every way possible. As if that wasn't bad enough it was all in the same day that Elsa had been interjected into this strange new life where new people lived under her protective roof, where she had to step outside of her comfort zone and learn how to mingle with strangers. Never before had Elsa been so attracted to one person let alone someone who was in the flesh and touching her hand, smiling at her, giggling near her air. It was almost like a page out of one of Elsa's stories, the page about instantaneous attraction towards the persons character, a type of love at first sight but not as strong yet however if given enough time spent in the company of one another would blossom into something strong and heady like that. Which was a problem since Anna was suppose to Elsa's sister and the strong beating of her heart beneath her breast was suppose to be in a sister fashion instead of the intense longing her loneliness felt. This was definitely typical Elsa fashion to screw something up so much without even having to do anything except look at Anna's long, cool legs in her tiny shorts and hear her giggle so sweetly. Elsa, who had not so much as held hands with another girl before Anna, found herself already falling ever so deeply for this complete stranger she now shared a home with. If Ashton found out he would kill her.

Anna loosened her hand from the tight grip she had on Elsa's hand to flounce over to her mother and wrap her arms around Irene's shoulders, dropping her temple to Irene's shoulder, "Mommy..."

Irene made a face that Ashton laughed deeply at and prompted the man into reaching over and jovially ruffling Anna's hair, "What do you want Princess?" A tiny spike of ice stabbed at Elsa's already bruised heart, shocking her system with a jolt of emotional pain that hurt worst than any of Ashton's punches could. She hadn't realized just how close her father had gotten to this girl until she heard the warmth and love in the way he spoke to Anna and the cute little pet name he gave her. Granted she had already known he loved Anna as more of a daughter than he had ever loved Elsa as one having told her already many times he thought of Irene and Anna as his family and not Elsa. Still knowing it and actually seeing it were two completely different things and, standing there now, she knew more than ever that she was an outsider in her own home. She was cordial and polite with her father, treating him more like a boss or a teacher than an actual father considering their love was warped with years upon years of abuse and a plethora of disappointment on Ashton's side. This was a family and she was the stranger who didn't belong. Swallowing back tears she stepped back and stepped again until she was on stairs and hurried up them to the safety of her room, ignoring the sweet sound of Anna begging for pizza and putting off moving the rest of the boxes in until later. The door clicked shut quietly behind her, blocking out everything that had just happened downstairs even if the hurt still mingling with the rejection was still very much present in her bleeding heart. Even if Elsa had this unrestrained want growing for Anna inside her she couldn't fight the simultaneous irritation and bitter resentment she felt over the fact that all Anna had to do was exist to achieve her fathers love when she had been fighting for his affection all her life. Frowning she tore her shoes off and threw them at the wall, not even blinking at the loud sound it made and the way it knocked a glass trinket off her shelf to shatter on the floor. It was just a little glass snowflake her stupid mother had left behind anyway, nothing important. She sat on the end of her bed and hung her head between her knees, fighting the tears welling in her eyes.

"Elsa?" The blond lifted her head and saw Anna standing in her doorway, the doorknob still in her hand and her uncertain eyes trained on the defeated blond stewing in her own sadness. A hardness fell over her face and she glared something fierce at the bubbly little cherry headed blond.

"Don't you fucking knock?" Even Elsa flinched when the profanity slipped from her tongue though not quite as much as Anna did. It was honestly the first time Elsa had ever used such foul language but Elsa's heart had switched into safety mode and she now felt threatened by this girl whom had busted into her life all beauty and charm, stealing her heart in the process somehow. Anna's eyes dimmed considerably and she dropped them to the floor, her lower lip getting caught between her teeth.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to be rude I was just-"

"What do you want Anna?"

The girl sputtered, obviously not use to people being so rude to her, but collected herself after taking in a deep breath Elsa heard clear across the room, "I convinced our parents to get pizza for lunch. I wasn't sure what you liked but Dad said pepperoni was what he usually got so. I thought I'd just, um, you know, let you know. So."

Another pang ripped through Elsa's heart upon hearing Anna so freely refer to her father, whom she was under strict orders to refer to only as father or Ashton, as Dad. She averted her eyes so the girl wouldn't see the pain and the tears in them, her jaw clenched so tight it was making her teeth hurt.

"I'm a vegetarian Anna. I don't eat pizza when my Dad orders it for himself." A large part of Elsa, mainly the part that had developed a massive crush on her new sister, felt immensely guilty for being so rude to Anna but an even larger part of her, the hurt little girl rejected by her father, was to bitter to care.

Anna's brows furrowed and she frowned deeply, an alien look on the previously bright face of hers, "Oh. I'm sorry. Dad didn't say anything otherwise I would have ordered something else that was vegetarian friendly."

Elsa's eyes narrowed hearing the word Dad again but she kept them averted, her pride to large to take another blow as low as allowing Anna to see how wounded she was by it all, being rejected by the man who sired her and being rude to Anna when her heart so badly ached to get to know her, "It doesn't matter. Just go away Anna."

No response was given outside of the click of her door falling shut and Anna's retreating steps echoing against the wood walls. Silence filled the room in the wake of Anna's departure, something Elsa was very familiar with. Years spent alone in this room with no one to keep her company except herself meant many moments of absolute silence. At first it had bothered her but she had grown so use to it that anything to break her silence made her uncomfortable. She rarely listened to music or did things other than typing to do so and if she did, she didn't make noise for very long as going so long without the silence made her feel on edge. Plus the silence had proved to be a good safety precaution. With nothing to fill the space of sound she could always hear when and if her father was coming up her stairs to punish her or, on the chance she had gotten lucky, to just speak with her. That was why she knew, in the silence that Anna left, that her father was coming up the stairs. The thunder in his heavy steps told her just what his reason was. Her heart went into a frenzy, banging relentlessly against her ribs like it too was hoping it could run and hide from what was coming. Fear swept chills razed her skin, little prickles teaming just below the gooseflesh like surface. Her breath came out sharp and quick and her wide eyes moved to the closed door as she waited. Each step made her hurt in anticipation, like a phantom pain.

Finally the door flew open and in stepped a furious Ashton, her fists clenched in balls of rage near his hips. Immediately Elsa began apologizing though she was shocked to find the apologies weren't coming out as words but little silent whispers her lips were forming, so afraid that her body was failing her in even making noise. Ashton closed then locked the door behind him though she knew it was probably just a new caution he would use when beating her less his perfect new family wander up to find him slamming his self-righteous fists into Elsa's weak body. Her lithe frame continued to tremble like a leaf in the wind from her spot on the edge of her bed.

"You can't just be normal for one day can you Elsa? It's bad enough you embarrassed me downstairs by making Irene uncomfortable then breaking her belongs but then you have to go and make Anna cry because you just can't control your instinct to fuck everything up." Elsa's stomach twisted at the little bit of information, regret and guilt immediately replacing any bit of resentment fueled anger she had felt for Anna. Ashton advanced on her with a slow angry gait that instilled fear into the very core of Elsa's being.

"I gave you the benefit of the doubt thinking you could at least handle meeting the people I've come to love like my family but no. You just can't can you Elsa? God you are such a disappointment to me." In a flash Ashton's palm, wide and strong, connected with Elsa's cheek and the force of the blow was enough to knock her clean off the bed and send her toppling to the floor. Her body rolled onto the broken snowflake that had belonged to her mother, the sharp edges of the broken glass digging into her back and slicing through her tender flesh like butter. Tears spilled over her cheeks but she wisely kept the sounds of pain and anguish locked deep inside, knocking her father would only hit her harder and longer if she let them out. Especially now that there was the danger of Irene and Anna hearing. When she rolled to her knees to try and get away from the glass Ashton pulled his leg back and kicked her in the ribs, hard, and she fell again this time on her stomach into the glass. It cut through her tank top into her trim belly but, as most of it had been imbedded in her back, and she had moved away from the little pile of blue stained red there wasn't much there to tear at her belly like it had her back. Ashton gripped a fistful of Elsa's hair and pulled back on it to lift her head and subsequently her entire body to her knees. Again he brought his hand to her face in the form of a flat handed slap that rattled her teeth and tore at the corner of her soft lower lip due to the large class ring of his. Her head snapped painfully to the side and a blazing heat seared the entire right side of her face, alight with pain that was throbbing to the tune of her heartbeat.

"You are to stay away from Anna from now on. I don't want to see your fucking face downstairs do you understand? You stay in this room. You do not come out. If I find out you made Anna cry again I'll severely punish you. Do you understand?"

"Yes father." She choked out, tears slipping into the cut on her lip when she opened her mouth to speak causing it to send a little sting to burn away at the cut due to the salt.

Ashton said nothing more and threw Elsa away by the grip on her hair, sending her skidding across the floor into the wall near her bed. He didn't look back once when he walked out of the room, slamming the door behind him. Elsa listened to each one of his footfalls as he tramped back down the stairs to rejoin his family downstairs where she was no longer welcome. Horrible pain raged inside her, rivaling that of the physical pain Ashton's slaps and the glass cuts on her back and stomach she felt. Once again her precious and familiar silence fell over the room, only interrupted by Elsa's quiet sobs, as she lay on the floor curled up in a ball on her side. Despite knowing better Elsa couldn't help but feel that she had deserved this beating after making someone as sweet and kind and caring as Anna cry simply because Elsa was jealous and didn't know what to do with her more than sisterly feelings. It wasn't like Elsa could apologize anyway, not now that her father had made Anna and downstairs off limits less she hurt her step-sister again.

**So if it wasn't obvious before, I assume it is now. This story is going to be an angst riddled ride so I wouldn't suggest sticking around if you can't handle it. However I can promise a lot of happy love feelings between our favorite sisters so long as your patient in future chapters. You may even get lucky enough as to get some kind of smutty interaction if your interested and I'm feeling motivated but it will come with time and not without a lot of drama between kisses. I doubt this story will do well as far as reviews and people liking it so I won't expect much especially since this is the first I've written for this fandom. However the idea is stuck in my head so I'm sending it out with big hopes and good lucks. Also I apologize for the probably great many mistakes .My work is generally unbeta'ed and I always write late at night which leaves me a derpy when it comes to writing. Until the next chapter I suppose. **


	2. Chapter 2

**So hey guys. The last chapter for this story was greatly received so I've decided to update as soon as I could. However some sort of ridiculous mishap led to my computer receiving an early death therefore it may take me longer than is normal for me to make updates. I hope you peeps of the fic world can remain patient. Sorry again for the long wait, I do feel bad if that is any consolation. **

The blood stained tank top Elsa had been wearing when she had landed in the glass still lay discarded in her sink when Elsa had woke the next day. Her bathroom wasn't very large but it was within the safe confines of her bedroom so she was quite happy with it, especially today and especially since Ashton had forbade her from going downstairs. The many cuts in her back still burned like fresh wounds but at least they weren't bleeding anymore. Granted she had to improvise with stitches by using the super glue that had been lying around her room to close up the two deep cuts that she was sure wouldn't close up without outside forces to assist. It had been difficult, she had been forced to bend her arms at odd angles to get the glue on either side of the laceration and although it had been a sloppy job, it stopped the bleeding. It ached horribly, as did the smaller superficial cut on her stomach, especially after she had slept on them to avoid sleeping on the ones lining her back. Overall it had been difficult to fall asleep and not just because of the discomfort of the wounds but because of her swirl of confusing emotions. On one hand she felt guilt for making Anna cry, after all who would want to hurt the person they had grown instantly attracted too? Yet on the other she felt somewhat appeased to know she had hurt the girl her own father clearly adored more than she herself who came from him. She felt like she was on both sides of a seesaw, fighting for the same direction, but just bouncing back and forth until one of both versions of her gave up.

She sighed loudly as she rolled over in bed, unable to sleep any longer thanks to the sun bleeding in from the cracks in her curtains. Her bed was just soft enough and her blankets warm enough that she could be content to remain curled up in it for the rest of the day, blocking out everything outside of its comfort. Except, just as she was about to pull her comforter over her head and go back to sleep, there was a knock on her door. Now she knew it couldn't be her father because he didn't knock, he simply entered. So that left Anna or her mother and, judging from the musical playfulness of the knock, it was Anna. The very person she was avoiding under strict rule by Ashton and her own self imposed law less she hurt the girl again in someway.

"Elsa? Are you awake? May I come in?" When Elsa didn't respond Anna knocked again once then twice before she walked away, her soft footfalls echoing around Elsa's room. And so began the tradition of neglect that would go on for far to long. If not every day, at least five times a week, Anna would venture up the stairs to the attic to give Elsa's door a knock and like the day before, Elsa would ignore her. Sometimes Elsa would be in the shower when Anna came up and couldn't hear it but had memorized the times that she came so knew regardless that Anna was out there. Around week three of ignoring her step-sister she began to feel sick with herself, guilt mounting ever higher within, because Anna's knocks switched from soft musical notes to three solid knocks. She was beginning to give up on Elsa, which was good but hurt no less, and showed when in week five no knocks came at all. She hadn't realized until they no longer came how much Elsa looked forward to them. It was pathetic really how she had grown so fond of a single knock to her door, a knock from a girl she was ignoring, because just that small sound made her feel a little less alone. Because that knock was Anna for her and no matter how long she sat in this room, the feelings she had for the strawberry blond didn't dissipate. If anything they grew stronger. During this entire time that her new family had lived here she hadn't interacted with them outside of the first time she met them all, as Ashton had ordered. It was difficult at first to sneak downstairs and get food when there wasn't anyone around but then, a week later, Ashton brought up a mini fridge for her to keep in her room. She hadn't needed to leave after that. He came up with food for it once a week or sooner depending on when they went shopping and, though it hurt to be left out, she liked that she didn't have to attempt slipping past the other two females. Sometimes, when she was lying in bed with nothing to do, she could hear their laughter downstairs and it really hurt especially when she hear Anna's sweet giggle float above all the others.

It was one of those days that she had nothing to do when her bubble was finally punctured. It was the 8 week mark, 2 long months of seclusion from her family, that there was, once more, a knock on her door. At first she thought it might be Anna again after such a long absence but the cadence was wrong, the knock far to shy to be Anna's aggressive knock.

"Elsa dear? May I come in?" She was right. Irene's musical voice drifted through the wood of her door and warmed Elsa's cold bones. No matter how uncomfortable with the woman she may be Elsa couldn't deny that everything about the woman screamed mother and always touched at the little girl in her hungry for such love. Over the duration of the time Elsa had been ignoring Anna, Irene would come upstairs for her dirty clothes to wash and bring back the clean ones immaculately folded and smelling a sweet fruity smell. They certainly weren't close but they had gotten use to each other. Elsa didn't flinch so much around her and had managed to ease her way into speaking a few words to her on occasionally though she still couldn't quite meet her eye or allow the woman to touch her. Irene herself had come to understand Elsa was a flighty girl not comfortable with other people and needed to be handled with the utmost delicacy else wise she'd fracture and flinch beneath her touch. Something about the girl made Irene want to love her more even though the more she tried, the further Elsa pushed her away. She couldn't place it but something, something dark and twisted, resided in the girl that made her this way, made her hate the world and fear everyone in it. It wounded the mother to think that someone so beautiful and sweet when she wanted to be was so injured. Before her daughter had given up on his older sister Irene had decided it would be her mission to bring this girl out of her shell. She had started small with little reasons to come up to her room and witness her in her natural habitat where she felt safe but soon–today in fact–she intended to put into plan her next step.

Elsa spun away from her desk in her computer chair, her blue framed glasses nearly flying off her face she had moved so quick. "Um," She jumped up to grab something–a pair of dingy grey sweats with holes in the them–to cover her legs since she had felt to lazy to put pants on today before she sat down at her computer to finish her homework, "Yes. Come in."

Irene flounced into the room all smiles and warm feelings as usual with an arm full of Elsa's folded clothes clutched tightly to her chest. She gave Elsa a friendly smile that the blond wanted to return but couldn't make her face do so she just dropped her head to watch her fingers twist around themselves in her lap. The move didn't go unnoticed by Irene, always watchful of Elsa's mannerisms. An awkward silence filled the air as Irene carefully stowed away Elsa's clothes for her and the blond continued to sit in her chair, head down, picking at her sweats. This was usual for them though so it was comfortable–somewhat–for Elsa despite how awful she felt. The guilt still swirled inside her, growing every day until it was beginning to feel like an entirely different entity that mocked her and laughed at her day in day out. Guilt for being such an awful step-daughter, guilt for being an awful step-sister, and guilt for being a dreadful human being that could never reach her fathers sky high standards. Around Ashton she felt it like a pulse beneath her skin, throbbing with reminders of her failure, but around Irene it was lesser, almost a non judged birthmark that she did well to ignore so Elsa would be more comfortable. It was...nice but terrifying.

Irene glanced up from putting away Elsa's personals at the stoic girl still trying hard to ignore her presence, " Elsa, I wanted to chat with you about something."

The blond tensed. Any time Ashton said those words to her it was because she was in trouble or he was taking something away from her. Once he had taken away her right to hot water for an entire month and it started with that sentence. Now he has passed the words onto Irene to use and this soft but quiet connection with the woman had been broken by this. She slumped in her chair, her shoulders caving into themselves in a very undignified way.

Irene noticed–she always did with Elsa it seemed–and hurried to correct her mistake, dropping the clothes in her hands back to the bed and coming around it towards Elsa. She didn't touch her, they had an unspoken rule about touching, but she did kneel down close to Elsa until the girl made eye contact with her.

"You didn't do anything wrong sweetheart. It isn't a bad talk, don't fret."

Elsa nodded but still didn't trust the woman. Distrust was unfortunately the only lesson her mother had left her with when she went away. That and scorning men led to years of misery and violence that would leave her stunted and neglected for the rest of her life.

Irene seemed to think she had Elsa's trust though as she nodded happily and gave the blond that warm Mamma smile that always punched Elsa in the stomach, "Anna is having a coming out party for one of her friends tonight. Or...a coming home party, I can't remember which. Kids seem to have parties for everything these days. Any who, your sister wanted me to invite you to it since she was to afraid to come ask you herself. Ashton and I will be out for the night, we are renting a cabin at the beach for a weekend to give you kids privacy, so I trust you with making sure things don't get out of hand okay? Anna has a habit of letting that happen with his strange group of friends."

Elsa blinked down at her pseudo mother in obvious surprise. Elsa was not a girl who mingled well with other people and that was absolutely attributed to the fact that she had never been forced too, not since she was a toddler. She didn't have social skills to lean on for making friends– she had never even had a real life friend for gods sake–yet this woman was asking her to oversee a party of strangers hosted by the girl she had been forbidden to interact with? The very idea of it had her trembling with fear.

"No Irene I don't think that's a very good idea at all. I'll just stay up here and, I promise, if I hear them getting to loud or something I'll...text Anna to turn it down or send them home."

"Don't be silly Elsa, you are invited to the party. Anna wants you there she just doesn't know how to ask. You two seemed to have gotten off on the wrong foot and this could be just the thing to set that straight. Please go?"

When Elsa didn't answer Irene stood with a sigh and made her way to leave but paused in the door way at the last second, peeking around at Elsa, "At least consider it dear." The door clicked shut behind her and Elsa listening to each of her soft steps hitting the wooden stairs on her way back down.

She felt torn. Seeing Anna again was something she wanted since the very moment Ashton had forbid it from happening even though jealousy was still very present. She already missed seeing the splash of pretty freckles coloring Anna's face and hearing her beautiful laughter up close. She truly wanted to be close to her sister even if she didn't know how to do it properly. Yet she knew if she accepted what Irene, and by proxy Anna, was offering her and Ashton found out she would suffer a beating the likes of which she had felt since that night they fist moved in. He had made that very clear and Elsa didn't think a million hours with Anna was worth a single punch from Ashton. It was a pleasant idea to entertain but not a wise one.

Once she went back to her writing the turbulent feelings inside her smoothed out, as they always did when she submerged herself into her fake worlds. That was one of the main reasons she loved writing this way and why she had chosen Creative Writing to be her major verses the more practical English major. The creative side to writing was too magical and compelling for her to ever turn her back on. Here pressing keys and watching words appear she could make a world of her very own, like magic from the fingers, beautiful and all her own. In these worlds she could live, happy and forgiven of everything, without Ashton there to belittle her and kill her with every word he spoke. In here she could be a queen that ruled with love or a witch that fought with great power, she could have a family that loved her and a wife that was endeared to her. Or she could be as broken and desolate as she was in real life, so lonely that every aching feeling constricting her heart bled into words for greedy eyes to eat up somewhere else in the world. But that was the best part, she could choose whether it was real or fake and no one would know the difference because they would be too engrossed with her beautiful construction.

Unfortunately she sometimes got to lost within her work and forgot all things around her like hunger or time. When she finally managed to pull herself out of the piece she was working on it was to find that the sun had gone down and music was filtering up through the floor into her room. Loud obnoxious laughter was ringing overtop the thumping base and the sounds of a group of people chattering, unfamiliar laughter that made her skin crawl. The party. She had nearly forgotten. God damn it. Nerves were already buzzing beneath the surface of her sun neglected skin. People, a whole throng of them, were down below and every one of them were unfamiliar to her. Without having her father home she felt like a solider on enemy territory boxed in from all sides without a way to escape. No way would she be going down there to mix into an environment that didn't suite her just so she could please Irene or make sure Anna didn't break anything.

But lord was she curious. She wanted to know about the company Anna kept, she wanted to see how Anna mingled with friends, she wanted to see the teen in her comfortable state. She wanted people to like her so that she could find out what its like to have friends and, if they liked her, then maybe Anna would like her too. Sighing she pulled off her glasses to rub the bridge of her nose between her thumb and forefinger. Decisions were the worst.

No, she wouldn't go down. She just wouldn't. But she still went to her closet to pull out an outfit she hoped would look nice on her or rather, would look nice on her and meet today's trends in the teen world. Since she did all of her shopping online she had massive amounts of fancy clothes or just plain weird clothes that she never wore. She only bought it because Ashton had given her his credit card and told her to buy new things. He may hate her but he despised thinking she didn't look her best at all times. There was a pair of skinny jeans in particular she adored but had never worn because she never felt she had a reason too. They were tight and barley fit over her curvy hips but flamboyant, flashing blue and white stripes that ran horizontally down her legs like a pair of prison pants. Even as she told herself she wasn't going downstairs she found herself slipping into them and changing out her top for a bright white v-neck top she coupled with a grey double breasted vest with a big floppy collar and silver buttons. And even though she told herself she wasn't going downstairs she was in the bathroom in front of the mirror, putting her long hair into a more elaborate version of the usual fishtail braid and slicking the flyaway bangs back with her fingers even though they just fell right back down, framing her pale face. She wasn't going downstairs but she still put on the lightest amount of makeup to accentuate her natural beauty.

Well, it wouldn't hurt to check on Anna and her friends. Just to tell Irene that she did in case the woman texted.

She forewent shoes so she could creep down the stairs quietly without being noticed. Sure she fancied herself up but she didn't actually want to get mixed in the fray of things, it was just in case Anna saw her. She'd hate to look a mess. She only went far enough down to see the first floor and sat down right on the step beneath her feet, hugging her legs and resting her chin on her knee to watch the going ons below.

Most of the noise was coming from the livingroom which made sense considering the large group in there. The massive TV Ashton adored was on and showing gruesome images of two men holding guns killing what looked like zombies. The two controlling the game sat side by side on the couch. One a shaggy blond man with wide muscular shoulders and a significantly large nose between his two warm blue eyes. The other was an exceptionally thin teen with shoulder length hair the color of snow, putting Elsa's near white hair to shame. In fact all of him looked white as snow except his two pretty lavender colored eyes so light they were near pink. He was albino she realized after a moment of awe. She'd never seen an actual albino man before. She had always kind of thought they would look like really creepy vampire people with pink eyes and white lips but, whomever this was, looked quite normal and attractive in a gangly, awkward kind of way. Beside the albino boy was a slimy looking fellow, reclined back against the arm rest of the couch and doing something on his cell phone. His coppery hair was combed over with so much gel it looked like it would crack if she touched it. The only bit of hair that looked safe from his gel were the thick (unattractive) sideburns on both sides of his box-ish head. She didn't like him, even from this distance, without having to meet him, she knew she didn't like him. He reminded her to much of Ashton's perfection. The last boy was on the other side of the blond with a big nose. He had a hair of curly black hair and a goatee on his chin that made his sly smirk seem all that much more mischievous looking. In his hands was the shiny jewel crusted egg her grandmother had sent them from Norway as a gift for Christmas last year and Elsa worried, from the way his eyes were running over it, that it may disappear after he left. Ashton would probably break her neck if it did.

She stood to go collect it but quickly sat back down when Anna along with two other females left the kitchen, arms laden with food, to join the men in the livingroom. A petite girl with flax colored hair that ran clear to her hips, dumped the food into the lap of the gel crusted boy and stomped over to rip the egg away from the devious looking one. Overtop the noise Elsa couldn't hear what she said but she watched the way her lips moved quickly and her face contorted into a furious look. The other female laughed a loud rich laugh that came from the bottom of her stomach and rolled its way up. Long, bushy red curls like fire caressed her round freckle flecked face. Crystalline blue eyes round and full of darker blue specs stood out almost as much as her pretty but wild hair did. Again, Elsa couldn't quite hear what the redhead said overtop the noise but whatever it was made Anna giggle in that sweet beautiful that Elsa had missed.

Then there was Anna. Perfect, wonderful Anna that Elsa hadn't seen in two months. Seeing her again was a shock to the system, tripping up the patter of her heart and knocking the breath from her body like a solid punch to the chest would. She didn't look much different than the first time she had seen her except maybe less exposed in her yoga pants verses the tiny shorts from before and with her hair in a messy bun instead of braided pigtails but she was a sight to Elsa. The sharpness of her jaw rivaled the sharpness of her manicured eyebrows, darker red tonight probably because of makeup and a little longer. Even in a simple hoodie and regular pants she was breathtaking. Especially the little white streak in her hair that she hadn't noticed before. It was almost the same color blond as Elsa's own hair.

She sat there for another five or ten minutes before she had decided she'd had her fill. The party looked nice and they weren't going crazy or drinking any sort of alcohol so they should be safe if left unattended by her older, wiser eye. Truthfully she had only come down to see Anna again and, since she had, she had no reason to stay. Quietly she stood and dusted off the ass of her expensive jeans, intending to turn and leave but stopped when she looked back up and found she was being watched. The albino boy had turned just enough to catch sight of her, his lavender eyes lighting up with childish excitement, and, to her utmost horror, he threw his hand up to wave at her. The wave was noticed by a couple of the occupants who also turned to look in the direction of his attention, their curious eyes finding her standing there stupidly like a frozen statue. Then, like a chain reaction, the only ones not looking noticed the others and turned to find her there. Her stomach felt like it was shredding itself, her eyes wide in absolute terror. All she wanted was to sneak away after catching a little look into Anna's life but, no, she had to get caught and now they all knew she was there. They were all looking at her. She felt like sinking to her knees and crawling away to hide in a corner or behind the couch where they couldn't see her. If her legs didn't feel like they were melting from underneath her she'd turn and flee. Her eyes cut to Anna who looked like she'd seen a ghost, her pretty brows Elsa had been admiring seconds before so high on her forehead they were threatening to disappear into her hairline.

"Oh I'm...I'm really sorry. I didn't meant to interrupt, I was just...just um..." Her voice died off towards the end, her throat going so tight with nerves she didn't think she'd be able to keep talking even if she knew what to say. Someone, she couldn't tell who, turned down the loud music of the game allowing for her to finally hear what everyone was saying.

"– is your step sister!? _She looks like a fucking model_!"

"Holy fuck, dat ass."

"Oh my god I want her pants! Look how cute they are!"

"Shut up Rapunzel, the pants are all you notice!?"

"She doesn't look like a bitch to me.."

"Olaf!"

"Sorry."

"Seriously. Dat. Ass."

"Hans! She can hear you, you idiot!"

"She looks actually really nice. Can I go give her a hug?"

"No Olaf you can not go hug her. She doesn't like hugs." Anna stood from the couch, looking understandably shaken at seeing her step sister after 2 months of complete silence. Elsa still stood in her shocked stupor on the stairs, blushing wildly after hearing all the things they had said about her, and a little hurt to know Anna had thought her a bitch. She had to have, otherwise her friend–Olaf?–wouldn't have assumed her to be one. And it was a fair assumption wasn't it? Since she had been a right bitch to Anna the first day she met her then proceeded to ignore her for so long afterward.

"Oi, you gonna stan' there lookin' pretty or you gonna come sit over here with us?" The redhead spoke above the rest of the chatter, finally speaking directly to her instead of about her, with the slightest hint of a Scottish accent in her voice. She swallowed roughly and opened her mouth to tell the girl no but Anna beat her to it.

"Merida. Leave Elsa alone, she was probably just going out to visit some of her own friends." Anna's teal eyes were narrowed in a glare pointed at her redheaded friend–Merida–but when she moved them over to Elsa they softened, looking almost as skittish as Elsa herself felt. She ran trembling hands down the front of her vest to do something with herself, feeling each smooth button catch on her pinky finger.

"Oh no I was just...I needed something from downstairs. Honestly I didn't mean to interrupt, I'll just go back to my room." She pointed over her shoulder and took a step back, her heel catching air instead of wood, and sending her toppling down. The sharp edges of the stairs dug mercilessly into her ribs with each thump and bump on her fall down. When she finally hit the base of the stairs, her pride was wounded far more than she herself was. She was next to never this klutzy having gone to Finishing School when she was a child so she'd have the grace and poise a girl in such a high class family as hers should have. It was the only school Ashton let her leave the house to attend and even then she had special tutors that assured she'd be singled out and taught one on one. For her to show anything but elegant class when she walked anywhere meant a lot. She had been stunned absolutely stupid in front of these people. She sat up on her knees and touched a hand to the side of her head that had banged against the bottom step quite violently during her accent. Lucky it hadn't broke the skin but there was a definite lump there that was aching something fierce. Without having heard the hurried steps Elsa didn't realize that the group of people had crowded around her until she felt her hand pushed away from her head to be replaced by long, soft probing fingers, checking for a head wound. Her demure gaze flickered up to see Anna kneeled in front of her looking frightened beyond thinking, her fingers being the ones touching her. Her heart picked up pace, going far past its natural tempo into something erratic and hard to match her breathing with.

"Elsa–oh my god–are you alright!?"

"I'm alright...I've never done that before..." Her voice came out a meek whisper, choked by her tight throat.

"Here, let me." The one with gel crusted hair, Hans she was sure she heard, stepped forward to loop his arms beneath her shoulders and hoisted her to her feet. Somehow, she suspected on purpose, he made her trip over her feet again and land directly in his arms, her face smashed against his chest. Unfortunately he was the type to wear far to much cologne and a low collared shirt that his thick red chest hair stuck out of. She had the unpleasant opportunity to have her cheek pressed against the scratchy hair that reeked of expensive old man perfume.

As his brash hand on her hip began venturing far to close to her ass, his mouth came unwantedly close to her ear to speak, "You know, whenever a sexy man saves a sexy woman in the movies, she gives him a kiss."

Oh lord. She hadn't ever been around men like this. She had gone out with Ashton to stores or large events where very forward men hit on her and quite often invited her to their bed but never up close like this, never actually touching her. It made her nearly shut down with uncomfortableness. She pressed her palms against his, admittedly, muscular chest and shoved as hard as she could to separate them. He stumbled back exactly two steps–she was quite weak–and she fell back three, almost tripping again.

"No. No thank you. I, um," She carded her fingers through her bangs, slicking them back onto the top of her head in the styled disarray she liked, "This isn't a movie."

The group, even Anna, stared at her as if she had lost her head and was chasing after it but none looked quite as shocked as Hans himself. His arms were still handing midair, as if Elsa were still in them crushed against his chest, to stunned to even move them. No one moved or even blinked until a bright flash went off and Kirtstoff's laugh filled the tense air. They looked to him to see his fingers flying across the touch screen of his phone, a giddy expression lighting up his young face.

"This is going straight to Facebook to catalog the first time Hans was rejected by a chick."

Slowly, second by second, Hans brows went lower and lower over his light brown eyes, mouth turning down with them, "I don't...understand..."

Merida let out that loud, warm laugh that felt like a fire and lifted a finger to poke at Hans temple, mockingly saying, "Does...not...compute..." in a robot like voice. Rapunzel giggled girlishly behind her hands , her moss green eyes cutting from Hans back to an extremely tense Elsa.

The guy who had been trying to steal their golden egg let out a loud guffaw and socked Hans in the arm, "Sucks for you dude."

Hans snapped his head towards the guy, finally coming back to himself it seemed, and punched him back, harder, hard enough to knock the guy back a few steps, "Shut up Eugene."

Kirstoff finished fiddling with his phone and slid it back into his pocket, grinning like a Cheshire chat, "Maybe she just isn't into assholes. Maybe she likes nice guys," He then turned and held out a hand for Elsa to shake, "I'm Kirtstoff."

Before she could even think to shake it Merida slapped his hand away and reached out a pale, freckled hand of her own, "Maybe she doesn't like lads at all. I'm Merida."

Again, before Elsa could even brush her fingers against Merida's someone's–this time Anna's–hand slapped the offending hand away. Beside her Anna stepped closer and looped an arm through Elsa's that felt far more possessive than a sisters arm should. Step or not.

"Hey, last time I checked this was my house and not a singles bar! So rude!" The tone in Anna's voice sounded almost jealous. It was an interesting idea, one that Elsa was sure to entertain when she was alone and safe behind her own closed door in the attic. Until then she'd remain the tense scarlet faced girl everyone's attention was focused on. The three that had been vying for her only seemed the faintest bit chastised, Kirtstoff looking the most with Merida second. Hans though didn't even blink, his leer still firmly fixed on her hips. It was easy to block out with her step sister so close she could smell the sweetness of her perfume and feel the heat of her body pressed against hers. It didn't really register until now how tiny Anna was. Probably three or four inches shorter than Elsa and only as wide around as a broom handle. Her waist was even smaller than Elsa's. It made Elsa really want to...hug her. Hug her really close and really long.

Rapunzel held up a hand, her eyebrow cocked up, and her hand on her hip, "I wasn't trying to get into her pants, don't yell at me grumpy pants. Well...I want her pants on me, but I didn't want in them."

Olaf shook his head, his pristine white hair swishing back and forth beside his ears, "I wasn't either. I just wanted a hug. Hi, I'm Olaf." He smiled at Elsa, a massive boyish smile that melted her heart, and wiggled his fingers in greeting. Shyly she lifted her own hand to wiggle her fingers back.

"I'm Elsa."

Anna glared at her friends before pointing to the livingroom, "Go sit on time out and think about what you have done. Except you Olaf and Rapunzel. You two can have some of my gummy worms. I'll be right back."

Rapunzel and Olaf high fived while the other three looked entirely put out. Eugene looked upset that he was being roped into it all even though he hadn't said a word against Elsa the whole time. Anna just shrugged and stuck her tongue out at him which he rolled his eyes at before walking off with the rest of them.

"Bye Elsa!" Olaf called, still looking happy as could be, his arm thrown high into the air as he waved frantically. Elsa gave him a tiny, shy wave goodbye.

"Bye Olaf."

Hans turned to say something as well but before he could Anna tugged on her arm and pulled them up the stairs towards her bedroom. She didn't really think about that until they were actually inside her room and Anna was sitting her down on the end of her bed. She ran into Elsa's bathroom, making a lot of noise in there as she looked for something. What, Elsa didn't know.

"Um," She wrung her wrists in her lap, her eyes shifting around her somewhat messy room that Anna hadn't been in since Elsa had yelled at her two months ago, "What are you doing Anna?"

"Looking for something!"

Elsa pursed her lips and hugged her wrist to her chest, "What?"

She heard Anna let out a loud huff and something heavy clang against her white marble counter just before the girl stormed back out and came to stand in front of Elsa, "I don't know. Could you lift your shirt for me please?" A dark blush colored Elsa's cheeks and, after a few seconds, Anna seemed to realize how she worded that and her cheeks too colored in. She hopped from one foot to the other anxiously, her teal eyes looking at everything in the room except Elsa.

"I mean, I want to check to see if you hurt yourself on the stairs. That's all."

Panic, sheer panic, welled up within Elsa. Across her ribs, painted like a purple and blue montage of random color against a pale white backdrop, were bruises given to her by Ashton. They were to dark, to old, to be passed off as fresh bruises from the fall and too large. If Anna saw them there would be little she could do to explain them away.

"Oh no, Anna, it's fine. I'm fine. Really."

Anna took a tentative step closer, her hands reaching out for the hem of Elsa's shirt, "I believe you, I just want to check with my own eyes."

"No Anna please, I'm fine-"

Anna was beginning to look annoyed, her hands reaching for Elsa only for the blond to jump from the bed to avoid her, "Elsa just let me look."

Elsa backed away from Anna who was advancing on her, "I said I was fine Anna."

Elsa's back hit the wall and Anna reached out again, getting her hands slapped away by Elsa's much to her ever growing irritation, "And I said I wanted to look–stop it damn it! It's not like I haven't seen pretty girls naked before Elsa!"

They both paused at that small bit of unintentionally revealed information. Anna took advantage of it though, slipping her hands past Elsa's guard to yank her shirt up. The vest popped open–thankfully not ripping any buttons–and the shirt rode up far enough that the underside of her navy blue bra showed. That wasn't what made Anna gasp. Elsa knew that much. She averted her eyes, to ashamed to look into Anna's for fear of what she'd find there. All of her bruises were on display including the small pink lines on her stomach from the glass cuts that still hadn't finished healing quite yet. At least those would fade with time, the ones on her back would scar forever. A feather light brush of fingers crossed the left side of her rib cage, dragging across her quivering stomach to the right side. The right looked far worst, a much darker, deathly looking black and blue hue, since Ashton was right handed. Elsa couldn't suppress the little shiver she felt under Anna's gentle touch. No one had touched her so sweetly before. She let out a choked sound and yanked her shirt back down over her stomach, finally turning her eyes back to Anna to glare at her but it wasn't really a glare, not when she saw the tears welling in Anna's eyes and the care swirling within the depths of her teal irises.

"Elsa...what happened to you?"

She set her quivering jaw, back going impossibly straight, "I fell down the stairs."

Anna looked up at her, eyebrows crinkling in disbelief and what looked like worry, "You said you had never fallen down those stairs before."

So she had. Damn it. She tried stepping around Anna to get away from her and this conversation but the girl stepped in front of her, stopping her from going anywhere. When she tried to step the other way Anna moved with her, blocking her off. She let out a frustrated huff and crossed her arms, fingers twisting into her vest beneath her arms and tugging at it to expel her mounting nerves.

"Who did that to you Elsa?"

She snapped her head towards the auburn haired girl, eyes going wide, "Wh..what?"

Anna pursed her lips and glanced down at Elsa stomach again though it was covered by cloth now. She remained silent for a long while, just looking at Elsa and her tense posture that continued to tense the longer silence lasted between them. Finally something must have come to her because she gasped, a hand flying up to cover her mouth, and took a step away from Elsa as if the blond were something dangerous.

"Did...did Ashton-"

"Out. Now." Elsa's voice was ice, frigid and sharp, and no louder than a whisper. She lifted an arm to point at the door, hoping the tremble running through it wasn't obvious. Anna shook her head frantically, stepping forward to touch Elsa, to take her in her arms, but the tall blond pushed her back. Tears were rapidly filling her eyes and for the life of her she couldn't understand why.

"I said get out Anna." This time it wasn't so strong. In fact it wasn't at all, it was weak and rattled and came out choked.

"Elsa please, if he is hurting you, let me help you. Let me do someth-" Elsa couldn't trust her voice anymore so she grabbed a handful of Anna's loose hoodie and tugged at it to pull the girl behind her. She stopped near her door but kept pulling until Anna was in front of her then she pushed, watching the girl stumble across the threshold of her bedroom. When she was finally out she slammed her door shut and locked it. Immediately Anna began banging her fists against it, yelling at Elsa to open or to please talk to her, anything. The blond ignored it. She stormed over to her computer and clicked a few buttons until music began playing. She cranked it up as loud as it would go, drowning out the sound of Anna's pleading and the tears in her voice. Once she was free from the sound of Anna and safely separated by a door she let herself break down into loud, body shaking sobs, falling to her knees on the floor and dropping her face into her hands. Anna knew. Anna knew. God, Anna knew. If she said a word to Ashton about it, just one implication that she knew how he treated Elsa, he would start hitting her too. To silence her. God, how could she be so careless? She never should have gone downstairs.

**Again, I'm sorry for the long wait guys. I'm very grateful if any of you out there that first read this and reviewed it/followed it are still reading it currently. I know it's annoying to wait. Also, I know you all probably think this will never start getting happy but I promise it will. We have to work our way to the happy. **


	3. Chapter 3

**Let's just jump right into this yeah? **

The knocking started again after that. Once, everyday around morning time, Anna came to her door and knocked. Once. Twice. Three times. Then she'd go away. Elsa always wondered why the girl didn't just walk in if she wanted to talk to her so badly but figured it was unlike Anna to be so rude. As before Elsa never responded to a single one of Anna's knocks and, as before, looked forward to them each and every day. To the point that when she knew the time was arriving for Anna to come up stairs, she'd go sit in front of the door on the floor and stare at the wood until the knocks sounded. Long after the three sounded she'd still be sitting there, staring at the wood in wonder. It may seem absurd but to Elsa this was the greatest affection that had ever been shown to her. For Anna to care so much that she made a routine of knocking against her door meant a great deal to the blond. With each knock Anna stole another little piece of her heart, taking it with her to keep in collection she probably didn't known she owned.

It was the time of morning for Anna to arrive, three weeks later, that she didn't come. Part of Elsa crumpled that morning, thinking Anna had given up on her again and so much sooner than last time. She stood from the floor and was about to sit back down at her computer when the door opened. She whipped around, expecting to see Anna standing there furious and expecting answers, but instead found Ashton. Her father was dressed, immaculately, in a dark three piece suit which meant he was going to somewhere. He glared at her tank top white capris combo she was wearing in contempt, hating that she wasn't the smart dresser he had raised her to be.

"Hello Papa." She flinched the second it left her mouth. Sometimes she could be so stupid. His jaw viably tightened as did his fists, hard and calloused from years of hitting her.

"Do not call me that child. I am your father and you will refer to me as such, understood?"

Elsa nodded, eyes cast to the floor, "Yes sir."

He lifted a hand to straighten his tie beneath his stiff collar even though it was as straight as a line, "Very good. Now, Irene and I have a lunch with a few of my business partners but it is quite a drive so we are leaving now. Anna has requested that you spend the time we are away with her to keep her company. Do you think you can manage that without upsetting her?"

Elsa sucked in a deep breath through her nose. That tricky little prat, using her father to get what she wanted. Now Elsa had to leave her room and spend an entire fucking day with her. She could ask any question she liked and Elsa wouldn't be able to hide behind her door. She bit the inside of her cheek to stop herself from arguing and gave her father a curt nod.

"Good. Change into something more appropriate before you go down. I left money for food and whatever else Anna decides to do. You are to do as she wishes and not anything else is this clear?" Again she nodded.

"If I find out you did anything but what I just told you, there will be hell to pay." He gave her wardrobe one last look before leaving her room, not bothering to close to door behind him. She sighed. Today was going to end badly. If Ashton hadn't mentioned anything then that meant Anna had spoken to him about what she had seen. Perhaps Elsa hadn't put enough faith in the girl, she must have been smart enough to know it would be the worst idea possible to say anything to Ashton. Maybe Anna was smarter than that. Maybe, just maybe, she'd be smart enough not to say anything about it to Elsa either but that was a big maybe.

Footsteps, light and familiar to her after living with these people for so long now, hurried up the steps to her room. She let out another grumpy sigh before trudging over to her closet and yanking the door open to root through her closet for something Ashton would approve of.

"Good morning Elsa!" Anna chirped behind her, her feet padding across Elsa's wooden floor to her bed. The springs sounded and she heard Anna squeal before a loud thump shook the floor. She whipped around with wide eyes to find Anna sprawled out the floor, rubbing her head and giving Elsa a sheepish look.

"What happened?" Her cold eyes shifted from Anna to her, previously, immaculately made bed now rumpled with a pillow missing, presumably on the floor.

"Your bed is much more...bouncy than mine is."

Elsa huffed and turned back around to continue her exploring, "That's why you don't jump on beds. Honestly."

She could almost hear Anna's eye roll, "Are you always this grumpy?"

She didn't even need to think before responding, "Yes."

"How do you have any friends?"

Elsa's face hardened but Anna couldn't see it which was probably for the best, "I don't."

"Oh...Elsa, I'm really so-"

Elsa turned around to face Anna again and held up a finger, "Don't. Rule one, I don't need or want your pity. Understood?"

Anna wiggled around on the floor until she was on her knees, eyebrows low over her eyes and lips pouty, "I wasn't pitying you."

"Whatever. Get out so I can change."

Anna's pretty eyes ran over Elsa's wardrobe but it was so unlike how Ashton usually did. Interest and infatuation filled Anna's bright blue eyes whereas Ashton's always held contempt, always disappointment. The difference gave her whiplash. Finally they pulled back up to meet Elsa's eyes, Anna's slim shoulders shrugging.

"Why? You look just fine."

"My father told me too." Something dark passed over Anna's face and it was so different from the happiness she saw there five seconds ago that it made Elsa regret saying anything. Slowly the small cherry headed girl rose to her feet, face awash with something that made Elsa tense, before she folded her arms across her chest. Her entire body seemed tight like a coil pressed pass its point of endurance. It made Elsa fear the tiny girl for just a flash of moment.

"Your father can suck it. You look fine."

Elsa glowered at the teen, "Don't talk about my father that way Anna."

Anna unfolded her arms, disbelief all over her face, "Are you fucking kidding me!? You're sticking up for him after all he does to you?"

Elsa turned and slammed her closet door shut, pressing both her palms against the wood and leaning her forehead against it. She wasn't the type to get physically violent–she was not Ashton–but she did have anger, occasionally, and that she took out on inanimate objects. Usually she felt bad for it right afterwards–like when she broke the precious snow flake made of glass her mother had left behind with her shoe–but, in the moment, she couldn't really stop herself from it. She sucked in two large breaths to cool herself down before turning back to face Anna.

"You don't have any idea what your talking about so don't even try. Okay?"

Anna narrowed her eyes at Elsa and pulled her lips back in an almost mocking smile that did scare the blond this time. She took three great steps to cross the distance between them and shoved two hard fingers against her still sensitive ribs. She hissed and pulled away, clutching her throbbing side with both arms.

"Oh I don't? Then how come when I do that you look like your gonna cry? And how come your covered in bruises like that? I suppose someone just sneaks in and hits you huh? Don't even try to convince me that my Mama does that. I know better than that. And yeah, at first I thought Ashton was super cool and I so badly wanted him to be like a new Papa to me," The girls voice broke a little at that and Elsa looked up, seeing a desolate looking cross the young girls face that broke Elsa's heart, "but after we moved in I started to notice things. Like how when we go out if someone cuts him off while he's driving he flips his fucking lid. Or the way he tightens his jaw whenever my Mama or I mention you. He doesn't seem to care about you at all. It really fucking bothers me. What kind of guy doesn't even want his daughter to come down to dinner? At first I didn't think much of it, everyone has anger issues of some kind and, I dunno, maybe you two don't get along? But a few weeks ago my Mama asked when your birthday was cause she really loves throwing big birthday parties for me so she was happy to have an excuse to do another big party every year for you but when she asked him he said your birthday was that day. He hadn't said anything before, he didn't tell us so we could buy presents, he didn't even get a cake. He was just gonna forget on purpose!" Anna huffed and threw her hands up in the air in exasperation. Elsa blinked. She had forgotten her own birthday. She hadn't had an actual birthday party in so many years she was prone to forgetting, having no reason to celebrate made it just a regular day after all.

"That's when I knew something was up. I didn't know exactly what it was until I saw those bruises on you. I know he gave those to you so don't even try to play dumb with me and don't try sticking up for him around me! I don't like him. At all. I would wish my Mama had never got with him but if I did then that would mean I had never met you and I don't want that." She gave another huff before turning on her heel and stomping over the Elsa's mussed bed and throwing herself onto it rather dramatically. It sort of took away from the intensity of her previous rant. Still, that Anna got so upset and worked up over her situation was more than touching. Her kindness reached into Elsa's chest and stroked tenderly at her cold heart, warming it slowly to the exuberant girl. She twisted her fingers together a bit and wrung her wrists in the nervous way she was prone too, staying where she was but wanting to go over to Anna and consol her. She wasn't exactly sure how so she stayed where she was.

Sighing, she sunk to the floor, sliding along the door of her closet, and rested her head back against the cool wood.

"Thank you Anna." She whispered it into the silence of her room that had been left after Anna's rant, both of them just remaining where they for a solid half hour. Or more. She had been sitting on the floor so long her back was beginning to ache horribly. She hadn't wanted to disturb the quiet or the moment that was left within it. Strange as it was, Elsa felt like they were bonding in the silence. Not a word was spoken before Elsa's three little words but it was more than they had been doing since Anna moved in. Just being in the same room, sharing the same space, made Elsa feel closer to the girl. Everything Anna had said kept swirling within her head, clashing against everything Ashton had ever told her. Kind sweet Anna that barely knew Elsa was defending her against not just Ashton but herself as well and after Elsa had been so cruel to her the only two times they had spoken. She truly was the loveliest person Elsa had ever known. The, normally, jubilant redhead picked her head up off Elsa's soft pillow to glance down at her step sister, blue eyes shining with curiosity. She had appeared to cool off in the time they hadn't spoken, a much calmer and more carefree Anna like the one she was when not upset or hurt. Elsa liked this one most.

"What for?"

Elsa wrung her wrists, a redness coloring her pale skin from how much she had done it since Anna had barged into her room, "For caring."

Ann sat up all the way and scotched off the bed to her feet so she could walk over to Elsa and slide down the closet door beside her. She took one of Elsa's soft hands in her own slightly callused hand and linked their fingers. Her warm eyes locked with Elsa's and she smiled a bright, wonderful smile that made Elsa's heart explode in her chest like a stick of dynamite. She was uncomfortable with the contact, not use to such displays of affection or comfort, but the smaller part of Elsa–the part so endeared to the girl–refused to let go.

"We just started off wrong is all. Of course I care, I cared from the beginning. You just didn't give me a chance."

Elsa dipped her head, chin falling to her chest, "I know...I'm sorry. I...I was jealous of you so I acted out."

Anna blew out a breath from between her teeth, almost like a whistle, "Jealous? Of me? Why?"

"Because you had all of my fathers love without even trying. My entire life I have done everything I could to make him love me. Nothing I do is good enough for him. Everything is always stupid or graceless or not becoming of a Dronning. I can't dress pretty enough for him, I can't be smart enough for him, I can't be anyone he likes, and I can't stop looking like the woman he hates, the woman who gave birth to me. It made me mad that all you had to do was skip in here and already he loved you more than me."

"Oh...I get it."

Elsa glanced over at Anna, feeling shame and guilt for admitting all that had just come spilling out, "I'm sorry."

Anna gave Elsa's hand a light squeeze that, subsequently, squeezed her heart, "Don't be. I don't really get having to fight for a parents love. My Papa died when I was just a baby from some kind of awful cancer but my Mama has always loved me enough for two people. I can't even begin to imagine what it would be like to grow up knowing my Mama hated me like your Papa hates you. Which is why, I guess, I get that you got so upset. Cause I'd be mad too if someone came in and took all my Mama's love away from me before I even knew what it was like to have it."

Elsa nodded mutely.

"So...can we start over?" Anna looked at Elsa hopefully, eyes shining brighter than Elsa had ever seen them.

"Start...over? What do you mean?"

"Well," Anna shifted around until she was sitting criss cross directly in front of Elsa, their clasped hands between them, "since we started off wrong I vote we start over again. Hi, I'm Anna." She tilted her head cutely and lifted her free hand to wiggle her fingers at Elsa in greeting.

The blond watched her oddly, unsure if this was a joke or not. When she didn't do anything to play along Anna gave a little huff and rolled her hand towards Elsa, prompting her in some way. Again the blond just stared.

"This is where you say, 'Hi, I'm Elsa. I can be kind of a stinker sometimes but that's only cause I wear my grumpy pants to tight. Secretly I love Anna cause she's the coolest bestest person in the whole world.' There, now you try."

Elsa lifted her lips into a small smile, rasing one eyebrow towards the girl, "I thought we just met?"

Anna gave her a strange look, "We did."

"Then how am I already secretly in love with you and know all these things about you?"

Anna opened and closed her mouth a few times, trying and failing to form a proper response to that. Of course she wasn't far off at all, Elsa was secretly in love with her. Or least, well on her way to being in love. Secretly in attraction currently. A large smile stole Anna's face and, before Elsa could comprehend what was happening, the younger girl had thrown her arms around Elsa's neck and was crushing her in the tightest hug she had ever received.

"It was love at first sight Elsa."

Sweet fragrant perfume wafting from Anna's neck infiltrated Elsa's senses, driving her near mad. The heat between their bodies was not something Elsa had felt before. She had pined and longed for her neighbor, a pretty brunette with short hair, from a distance for most of her life until she, with her family, moved away. After that she began a brief internet fling with a girl that lived in Liverpool far away from her that ended almost as quickly as it began. Never had Elsa had a real girlfriend or even a real girl pressed against her like Anna was now. She could feel her every curve even through their clothes, fitting into Elsa's own like a sensual puzzle piece made of flesh and want and rising hormones. Tentatively she raised her arms to wrap them around Anna's strong back, letting her hands rest somewhere in the small of her back.

"To bad we're sisters huh?" She tried to joke but the hug had already shifted. Or it may have been Elsa's imagination. She didn't think so. It grew prolonged and Anna began to sag into her, against her, her nose pressing intimately against the crook of her shoulder and her arms loosening enough for her palm to slide across the nape of her neck and come to rest against the side of her neck. She was practically in Elsa's lap. Elsa didn't have much experience in way of contact with other human beings but she was certain normal hugs didn't go like this.

"No way," Anna voice was soft and muffled by Elsa's neck, "that just makes it more intense since its taboo. Do you know how much porn is on the internet of sisters or brothers fucking? People are totally into that type of stuff. Besides we aren't real sisters Elsa."

Elsa shifted as she began growing more and more uncomfortable with how and where this was going. Anna was beginning to make it sound like she was actually trying to convince Elsa that it would be okay for them to venture into something and, with how they were basically cuddling now, she was believing it herself. With Elsa's shifting Anna had to shift too so she'd keep her hold on Elsa, moving directly into her lap now with her legs hanging over Elsa's thighs and her arms dropping to wrap around Elsa's middle instead of her neck that had become her pillow.

"Um...what are you doing?"

Anna lifted a lazy hand to press a finger over Elsa's lips, "Shh. I am a natural born cuddlier. If we are going to be friends or sisters you will have to get use to this."

Elsa frowned, knocking away Anna's hand albeit gently, "I am not a cuddlier. You are making me uncomfortable."

"Don't worry, through many cuddle sessions we will be able to overcome your affliction. Dr. Anna on the case! Literally!" She giggled at her own joke, her tiny frame shaking against Elsa's. The sweet intoxicating sound was so close to her ear this time that Elsa felt herself just about die. Anna was the cutest thing. Ever.

"Even though I just told you it makes me uncomfortable that you are invading my personal space?"

Anna nodded vigorously against her neck, squeezing Elsa's middle in a little hug that didn't hurt like she had thought it would considering, "Especially because of that."

"So nothing I say or do will get you off of me?"

"No."

"Nothing at all...?"

"Hmmm...play a game of 20 questions with me and I'll consider it."

Elsa frowned, glaring at her bed since she couldn't glare at Anna what with her face pressed against her neck, "Consider it?"

"You're really nice to cuddle with. It will be hard to pull away."

A long, loud sigh left Elsa's lips, "Very well. Ask your first question."

Anna wiggled with giddy excitement in her lap and lifted her head to look at Elsa's face, "Yay! Okay um...do you have a boyfriend?"

Elsa eyed her warily, afraid that she was asking to know if Elsa was single or if she was asking to learn about her sexuality without flat out asking if she was gay, "No. I don't date things with penises."

Anna blinked once, then twice, before she broke into a fit of giggles she suppressed against Elsa's neck. Each puff of laughter that blew over the sensitive flesh ravaged her body with chills, widespread, crawling as far down as her belly button. She didn't realize just having air blow against ones neck could feel so...sexual. She shifted again but for an entirely different reason this time. Finally Anna got control of herself and lifted her head again, giving Elsa a great big smile that was sweet like candy and honest like the bible.

"Seriously?"

"Yes and I'm counting that as your second question."

All amusement drained from Anna's face, replaced by indignance, "What!? No that's not fair!"

Elsa shrugged, suppressing a smirk threatening her sober mouth, "To bad. I don't make the rules. You said 20 questions, that was a question. Therefore, question number two."

The most adorable pout Elsa had ever seen crossed Anna's face, "Fine." Her arms finally released Elsa to fold in front of her chest and, for a moment, Elsa felt a deep longing to have them and their warm weight back.

"Why are you a vegetarian?"

"Because eating too much meat–like big steaks or the like–makes me feel sick."

"So you couldn't eat meat if you wanted too?"

"I could, I just choose not too. Occasionally, like at Thanksgiving or Christmas, I'll eat turkey or ham or something but not a lot. I don't make it a law not to eat meat like most vegetarians, I just don't enjoy meat is all."

"Oh," Anna made a low humming noise in the back of her throat as she thought up another question, "what's your favorite color?"

"Blue."

"Mine too." Elsa smiled a little at that.

"Do you like to read?"

Elsa glanced over at her bed that had stacks of different sized novels stuffed, hidden, beneath it, "I do. Quite a lot. My father doesn't like that I read so much so I have to keep my books put away. That and, um, some of them are...um..."

She felt Anna smile against her neck, the top of her lip dragging slowly across her tingling skin, "Smut?"

A pretty blush colored her cheeks, "Erotica. It's called erotica and I only bought it to make sure I really was gay and not just interested in a passing fancy."

"When did you know you were all about the ladies?"

"When I started having rather vivid dreams about our next door neighbor. She would swim nude a lot in their pool in the back yard which happens to be just under my window."

She felt Anna stiffen slightly and her fingers curl around her hip, almost possessively, like the night of Anna's party. It was strange and confused Elsa a little but the feeling was far to pleasant for her to complain about.

"Does she still live next door?"

"No. They moved years ago. Now an old man lives there who also likes to swim nude." She wrinkled her nose when she recalled the time she had glanced outside and saw him in all his...wrinkled glory diving into the large pool. It had nearly singed her eyes from her head. Anna giggled that sweet little giggle of hers that Elsa was rapidly falling in addiction with.

"That must be way better than the pool girl."

"Your sarcasm is noted and not appreciated. Next question."

Anna snuggled further into Elsa, her nose _nuzzling_ against her neck, as her fingers flexed against her hip, almost caressing it through her shirt, before sliding around to hug her middle again as before. Elsa knew nothing about cuddling except what she read in books and, secretly, FanFiction online, but she was certain it didn't entail all this. Right? At least not platonic cuddling and this was (supposed to be) platonic cuddling. That heat from before came back with a burning vengeance, simmering in the pit of her stomach and making her feel...things...further below. Now Elsa had read her fair share of racy literature but she wasn't sexually experienced in the least. She was a virgin for god sakes. She hadn't even touched herself like she was certain most girls her age and younger had. She understood the signs of desire but not much after that. This was a problem. Thinking her step sister was beautiful and lusting after her were two different things entirely! God she had dug a hole before but it just kept getting deeper and soon she'd be buried alive in it.

"Haven't you gotten anymore comfortable with my cuddles yet?"

"No, not really." She shifted again.

"Ah...sad. Don't worry, we'll get you there. We have all kinds of time, living together and all." Elsa blinked but didn't show much more than that. Inside she was frantic. She didn't think she could handle Anna all over her like this again. She didn't exactly know what she would do but she definitely wanted to do it!

"Do you have a girlfriend?"

"No."

"Have you ever dated anyone?"

"Sort of. Not really...official."

"Oh...so you're a virgin?"

Elsa shifted again, her cheeks tinting pink, "...yes."

Anna ran her fingers across Elsa's throat almost like she was petting a kitten, soft and light but very much there and ever so pleasant, "Don't be embarrassed. I think it's really nice that you are a virgin. Girls, and guys especially, are to eager to lose their virginity. It's...well they make it like its something you just have to get rid of as soon as possible if you want to be worth anything. I think that's just stupid. Your virginity should be...it's something you give to someone who deserves it. Who will take it and give you something back equally perfect. Passion and love and trust and–god–_pleasure_. Someone who will take it and not make you a woman because of a quick fuck but take it and make you trust them, make you love them, the way you gave them your trust that they would love you properly."

Elsa lifted her eyes to Anna, seeing the wistful far off look clouding over pretty teal shining in the yellow fluorescence of her light overhead. Elsa was the one schooling for English work but what Anna had just spoken sounded like poetry to her without the rhyme. It was beautiful and did well to ease her embarrassment. The passion, the resoluteness, in Anna's voice pulled at something new in Elsa's smitten heart. Yet another beautiful side of Anna was revealed to her.

"So you're a virgin too?"

Anna gave a huff and the cloudy happy look to her eyes faded away to something more irritated, "No. My first time was stupid. That's why I think all that. I was one of those girls that wanted to grow up to soon and, afterwards, when I was just laying there I realized how stupid I had been. I ran home and my Mama saw me crying and we talked about it. She was sorry I had chosen to do it so young and worried about protection and pregnancy and STD'S and stuff. But she was glad that I had learned what I did I think. I was so grounded afterwards though since I had snuck out to go be with him."

Elsa didn't know why it made her feel so sad to know Anna wasn't a virgin. Of course she should have known. No one as inexperienced sexually would be so comfortable with the way they were cuddled up together right now. They'd be a teaming mess of sexual energy and unsure hands just like Elsa herself was.

"But," Anna bounced back, all smiles and giggles again, "I still have 8 questions to ask!"

Elsa's shoulders slumped, her face going back to being a grumpy dour expression, "Ask away oh nosy one."

Anna hummed a random tune for an indiscernible amount of time before she finally asked something, "So you've never been kissed?"

"I...does a really old fashioned grandmother count?"

" 'Fraid not."

She sighed, "Then no."

"Not once?"

"No."

"But...you are so pretty...how have you not been stolen by some hot super model lady?"

Elsa crinkled her nose up at the very thought, "Because I have never left my room except for when I go to business things with my father or when I went to finishing school as a little girl but even then I had special classes and special tutors that made sure I didn't mingle with the other girls."

Anna picked her head up off Elsa's shoulder to look down into her crystalline eyes, searching for something Elsa couldn't begin to guess what, her pretty face more serious than Elsa had ever seen it, "So...you have been isolated in this room...your entire life?"

Elsa ticked back the years in her mind and lost count around 13 or 16, "Yes, basically."

She looked upset now, "But...why?"

Elsa shrugged, glancing away from Anna at her bed, to unsure about herself to hold such intense eye contact, "My father insisted and I don't disobey my father for anything. He is ashamed of me and doesn't want anyone to see me or know me I guess. After my mom ran off he pulled me out of regular school and had me home schooled. Its not a big deal. I don't like leaving my room anyway, strange people and strange things scare me."

"Ah," Anna gave her a strange look, lips pursed tightly, "duh. You haven't ever left your room. Everything else is new and scary and...that is so fucked up Elsa! Your dad would have been nicer if he just...killed you or gave your away or something! God! I can't stand him! Ooo he makes me so...so mad!" She let out a little growl that was more sweet than intimidating and slammed her fist into her palm, pretty brows angled in a dangerously angry way.

Elsa, trying to placate her, placed her hand over Anna's and spoke in a hushed tone, "It's okay Anna."

"No it's not!"

But there was no way around her hostility, "Okay, it's not...wanna finish our game?"

Anna let out a long breath and flicked a braid over her shoulder but nodded, jaw tight and eyes hard, "Yes. How many questions do I have?"

"If I count that one, then one."

"Don't count it, that's not fair!"

Elsa let out a long suffering sigh, her head falling back against the closet door behind her, "Fine."

"Yay...okay. Um...let's switch back to something fun...has there ever been anyone you wanted to kiss? And don't count the pool girl!"

Elsa furrowed her brows, "But what if the pool girl is the only one I've wanted to kiss?"

Anna folded her arms, teal eyes hard and glaring over the top of her forearms, "She better not be."

"What in the world is that suppose to mean!?"

"Answer the question Elsa!"

"Alright. Yes, I have wanted to kiss a few girls before."

"And why didn't you?"

"That is the last question your going to ask?"

"Yes."

Elsa shrugged, glad to be done with the tedious game either way, "Pool girl was just something I fixated on. Like if I were normal I'd have her or if I were brave I'd kiss her. If I weren't deathly afraid of leaving this room or other humans and the proper way to interact with them, I'd talk to her. The second was a girl I was sort of but not officially dating over the internet. Once or twice I longed to kiss her but it was such a distance that we both realized it was absurd to continue anything. And the third..." She glanced up at Anna nervously, her lower lip caught between her sharp teeth. Anna seemed to catch on, apparently as bright as her mother when it came to understanding Elsa through her mannerisms, and dropped her line of sight down to Elsa's lip being tortured by her teeth.

"The third?" She questioned quietly. A tension–new and not uncomfortable like Elsa was use too–had grown between them. A tension that clawed at her skin and tried to make her do...something. She just wish she could grasp what it was.

"The third is...unavailable to me."

Anna shook her head slightly, her face coming a little closer to Elsa's, "What makes you think that?"

Were they speaking in code? It felt like they were. Obviously they both knew what they were really referring too, Anna had to know with the way Elsa was looking at her mouth so intently. And god there had to be something between them! They had been sitting together like this for almost an hour now and Anna may be openly affectionate–she could believe that–but she simply couldn't believe she was this affectionate with everyone.

She flickered her gaze up to Anna's eyes and did they seem a little darker now? Definably closer. "Because we are in a...peculiar situation."

Anna's hand drifted up from her neck to her cheek, fingers burning trails in their wake as they danced over the skin of her neck and jaw, "I think she told you how she feels about that."

Elsa swallowed roughly. They were most assuredly talking in code.

"If she cares to realize, it's not so simple. Plus we hardly know each other."

Anna shrugged, coming so much closer, "An easy fix. They live together. They could spend every day together, learning about each other."

She could taste the mint in Anna's breath washing across her quivering lips, "Then they should wait. Until they known more and...for her to realize I'm not much of a person she should be trying anything with."

Anna shook her head and her lips moved, pressing a warm, warm kiss against the corner of her mouth, "It's just a kiss Elsa, not sex or a proposal. You can take me on a thirty thousand dates after this if you want, I just want...one...kiss..." She moved back to kiss Elsa, lips so close she could feel Anna's warmth emanating off them, but, before Anna's could press them to hers, Elsa turned her head at the last second. Anna let out a little frustrated whine, her forehead falling back to Elsa's shoulder.

"Seriously Elsa? It's not a big deal. It's just a little kiss."

"Anna." Elsa's heart felt like it was going to beat out of her chest. She could hear footsteps downstairs.

"Please Elsa...I have wanted to kiss you since the moment I saw you. So, so badly."

They were coming up the stairs now. "Anna seriously!"

"I know it's probably not a good thing with us being step sisters and all but god damn it I like you. I know we know next to nothing about each but everything in me wants you, is drawn to you. I can't explain it. Just let me kiss you Elsa, I promise it will be soft and short and a good first kiss."

Her door was still open. "Anna hush!"

The girl pulled back, her face obvious with how hurt she was by the sharp tone and mean comment. But then the person who had been climbing the stairs made themself known and thank god–thank god!–it was Irene. At first she looked shocked to see the two girls so close but shock gave way to happiness, a pleased smile lighting up her face.

"Ah! There you two are. It looks like you are getting along." Elsa wanted to sink through the floor and never come back. She was sure, positive, Irene would be able to deduce what had been going on but no, she looked to pleased that the 'sisters' were finally getting along. Her eyes moved to Elsa.

"I see Anna has already decided you are her new cuddle bear? I'm afraid she's been like that since birth, you just kind of...get use to it."

The girl in her lap preened under her mothers words, spine going straight and nose lifting slightly, "Told you."

Elsa rolled her eyes, "How do you turn it off?"

Irene gazed at her daughter fondly, "You don't."

Elsa wasn't so fond of it, especially knowing Ashton could walk up here any moment and see them like this, "Just great."

Irene slapped her clutch against her palm before turning to retreat back down the steps, calling out over her shoulder, "Come down for lunch Elsa! Anna bring her!" before disappearing. Elsa let out a relived breath at not having been caught but tensed again when Anna drew her fingers across her lips down to her chin and tilting her head to catch her eyes.

"This isn't over. We will get back to this," She motioned between the two of them, "later. I will just have to find a way to make you want to kiss me." With that she lifted herself from Elsa's lap and, throwing one last look over her shoulder at the blond beauty sitting on the floor looking flustered, following her mothers steps downstairs. She sat there a few moments, trying to collect herself, when she felt her phone go off in her pocket. Confused as to who could possibly be texting her or how they got her number she pulled it out to find she had received a text from an unknown number.

Opening it she realized it was Anna. Ashton must have given her and Irene her number when they moved in. Reading the text sent her heart into a frenzy, nearly wobbling right from her heaving chest.

_I'll do whatever it takes to make you realize we should be together. I'll spend weeks, months if I have too, getting to know you. If that is your one stipulation I can do that. Prepare to be wooed Elsa Dronning. Then, I expect my kiss pretty girl. _

_Xoxo -Anna_

**Well I felt so bad I stayed up practically all night to write the third chapter directly after I finished the second. And look! Less sad shit. But not quite what your hoping for yet. There won't be any actual things going down for a while. Anna's got to put de moves on Elsa. **


	4. Chapter 4

**Someone requested a chapter in Anna's point of view and, at first, I wasn't going to do it because I was adamant on keeping this entire story in Elsa's point of view, but I changed my mind. So you get this as your fourth chapter. Here you go. Oh and prepare yourselves. **

The fan on the ceiling was doing little more than push the hot air around the room instead of letting it go stagnant. Today was one of the hottest days of the summer, a summer that was rapidly drawing to a close. Every year Anna looked forward to summer, the few precious months dedicated to spending time with friends and not doing any kind of homework. Before school let out she had made a billion different plans to do things with friends, most of which she had done, but none of them really excited her like she hoped. She had spent the entire time being distracted with thoughts of her sullen step sister. When she first moved in, before meeting the older girl, she had come with high hopes of a friendship that would bleed into an amazing sisterly bond they would share for years to come. Those dreams were crushed the instant she laid eyes on Elsa. Elsa. Just the name was enough to make Anna tremble with desire. Her sister was outwardly beautiful but that wasn't all that drew Anna to her. No, something else, something in the way she walked or when and if she did talk. Never before had Anna seen a woman look like her and never before had any man or woman stolen Anna's interest so quickly. Even after she had been so cruel to Anna upon first meeting her. Strange too since no one was rude to Anna. Like, ever. At first it had been purely carnal desire she felt for Elsa but then, the night of the coming home party she had thrown for Merida, when she saw her step sister standing on the stairs, something shifted in her. The frightened look in her eyes and the unsure way she held herself endeared her to the statuesque blond. Then she had fallen and Anna's heart felt like it had been roughly pulled from her chest and stomped on by a 400 pound man. She couldn't understand it. Never before had she felt such a...longing for someone. She had never been in love before. Never even encroached on the feeling with past boyfriends and girlfriends. They all lacked something that Anna was parched for and Elsa, well, Elsa was like a long cool drink of that something and now, after just a small sip, she was addicted. Which, she realized some time after their game of twenty questions, didn't bother her in the slightest because she _wanted _to be addicted. Everything about Elsa drew her in like a swirling vortex and she could be happy for the rest of her days if it would just suck her in and sweep her off to the land of Elsa. The shy, people frightened, battered girl drove Anna wacky without even really trying. Somewhere over the top of her castle walls and deep beneath her rough exterior was a gleaming gem that Elsa had hidden away from the world so long ago and Anna wanted desperately to be the person to touch it. Already she felt like she had glimpsed its beauty only for Elsa's walls to slam back into place and toss her out. She'd seen enough to make her want the whole thing and by god she'd stop at nothing to work her way into Elsa's defenses and love that girl with every bit of her.

The abuse was a problem though. It had bothered her, night and day, since she had found out. Seeing those marks on Elsa, marring her radiant beauty, had filled Anna with a type of rage she had never experienced before. It felt like someone had flipped a switch in her that pulled something primal and vicious from a dark place within her and, since then, she hadn't been able to flick it off. The rage wasn't always present as long as Ashton wasn't around but it was always there, swirling within her like a black spot on an otherwise clean surface. The very second she found out she wanted to rush downstairs and call the police but stopped halfway there as it came to her that Ashton was an incredibly powerful man with friends who had their fingers in everything government related. He'd walk out of prison without a scratch on his record and come after not just Elsa this time but her as well. Which also cancelled out the option of telling her mother about the abuse. There would be next to nothing Irene could do to help Elsa and leaving the man would only tear Anna away from her. Nothing she thought up would do much in way of helping. So staying here in the house, silent as possible, would be the safest bet since she could be here for Elsa when she needed her and give her the love she'd need after Ashton made her feel hated. It wasn't ideal and she wished she were a little older with a job so she could afford to pack Elsa up and run off with her in the middle of the night but, alas, that would have to wait a few years. Until then she would just have to find little ways of making Ashton leave her alone.

She was startled from her thoughts by a knock at her door just before it cracked open and the man of her vast source of anger poked his head in, smiling kindly at her. It turned her stomach. She glared at him and sat up, sliding across her bed until her back was rested against her headboard.

"What do you want?"

Ashton frowned and pushed the door open a little further so he'd have room to step in. His hand ran through his hair, a pretty near white color that Elsa made look so much better, and shifted his stance from one foot to the other. If Anna didn't know better she'd think he looked almost awkward, his blue eyes glancing around her large room.

"Anna may I speak with you?"

She scowled at the man and folded her arms across her chest, "Why? Are my friends here?"

He lifted his hands in way of peace before taking a couple slow steps towards her and seating himself at the foot of her bed. She resisted the urge to kick him off.

"They just got here. Your mother was going to come tell you but I asked her to let me so we could have a little chat first."

She eyed him warily, not trusting a single word that came out of his mouth even though, before she found out about Elsa, he had been nothing sort of wonderful to her, "Am I in trouble or something?"

He let out a warm laugh that use to tilt her stomach and make her think she finally had found someone to be her papa and fill the void her first one had left but now it made her boil with rage, "No sweetheart. Not at all. I just noticed recently you've been treating me differently. I was wondering if perhaps I did something to upset you and if I have, what can I do to make it up to you?"

Anna pulled her legs up to wrap her arms around them and dropped her chin atop her knees, eyes unfocused but staring intently at Ashton. Since she had found out Anna had stopped referring to Ashton as 'Dad'. The first time she called him Ashton he had dropped something in surprise and her mother had given her a look like she was deranged. From the beginning Anna had been madly in love with him herself but as a daughter is with a father, always hugging him and calling him her daddy in public. People use to come up to them and tell them how precious they thought it was that Anna was still so close to her father even in her hormonal teenage years. Ashton had been like a blessing to their little family, giving Anna a man to be a father figure she could look up too and a person to fill the lonely hole in Irene's heart. All of it, every little bit of it, came crashing down around her the moment she saw his real daughter. Skittish, broken Elsa afraid of herself almost as much as she was of others and painted in the color of Ashton's true self. He lost the sheen to his person that had blinded her to the piece of trash beneath it. Now she ignored him if she could, avoided him, treated him poorly and threw snide comments at him every chance she got. Irene was beginning to show signs of stress over it, wondering why her lovely daughter had turned into such a brat most likely, and for that Anna felt bad but she just couldn't play nice. Not with him, not anymore. Definitely not when she was falling in love with Elsa who had spent years suffering up in her room, alone. She had made a choice and chose Elsa above Ashton and would continue to make that choice everyday without a single hint of remorse.

"Anna?" She blinked her eyes, coming back to herself, and realized she had let Ashton sit on her bed in silence for that long. Her face hardened.

"Can you please send my friends up?"

Ashton pursed his lips, eyes scanning Anna's face for the sweet love he use to see there for him, but, seeing nothing now, gave a little nod and left the room. Being mean to him that way always made her feel a little better, like she was defending Elsa somehow. Seconds after Ashton left she heard a storm of footsteps racing towards her door accompanied with the raised voices of the rag tag group of hellions she called friends. Kirtstoff broke free of the horde first–quite literally–as they had apparently been racing to see who could get there first and had to wiggle out of Merida's surprisingly strong grip to trip and fall through the doorway. Even though he fell down he had a proud look about him and threw both his fists in the air.

"Winner!"

Merida burst through second followed closely by a tall Hans looking near model worthy despite the heat. Sweat had soaked through Anna's shirt already and made her shorts sticky and uncomfortable against her legs while Hans looked perfect and ready to go pick up woman. It had always bothered her that he had to work very little to be flawless. Save for the ugly sideburns and obnoxious personality. She honestly didn't know what woman saw in him. Eugene came bumbling through the door behind them, tripping over Kirtstoff still gloating about his victory on the floor, and ran headlong in the foot of her bed. She yelped when the whole bed rocked from the force and she was sent spiraling to the ground right alongside Kirstoff. Beneath her bed an irritated mewl from a perturbed kitten sounded just before the tiny white ball of fluff came waddling out. He padded across the floor, his little tail that was ninety percent fluff swishing behind him furiously, to Anna and climbed into her stomach, shooting Eugene a look like he knew that the boy had been the one to disturb his nap.

"Eugene! Seriously!?"

He poked his head up to give her a cheeky smile, "Sorry Anna."

She curled her fingers protectively around her kitten's pudgy belly and lifted him into her arms, hugging him close against her chest as she sat up, "You could have hurt Marshmallow."

Olaf came lumbering into the room at that very second, catching the last bit of the conversation, and gasped. His lavender eyes widened in horror and he slid over on his knees in front of Anna to prod at the kitten with his long fingers, checking for any possible injury. Marshmallow gave another mewl in protest, batting at Olaf's hand with his little paw. Anna poked out a lip and hugged the kitten closer, away from Olaf's kind but annoying intentions.

"Leave my baby alone!" Marshmallow admitted a loud purr, as if knowing his mistress was sticking up for him, and nuzzled his white nose against her throat. She burst into a fit of giggles and tried to move away from him and his tickling but the kitten would just follow her, butting his fluffy head against her chin and chest.

Rapunzel walked in at that moment with a large pitcher of lemonade hugged to her chest and a handful of spoons. She blinked at the group she had been friends with since she was just a little girl and their antics that, even after years of being around, she still couldn't quite get over. Hans had already gotten into Anna's computer to look through her personal file of photos hoping to find a stray nude even though they all very well knew Anna was not the type of girl to send them out. Merida had flopped in the window seat dressing the large bay window Anna adored on the wall opposite her bed, throwing random books to the floor after glancing over the first few pages and deciding she didn't like them. Kirtstoff and Olaf were sitting on the floor by Anna, trying to coax the girl into letting them pet Marshmallow, but she, along with the choosy kitten, were blatantly ignoring the pair. Glancing at Eugene made her sigh, her frustration with him for his sticky fingers always just beneath the surface.

She stormed over and slapped the top of his head with her hand full of spoons, making him drop Anna's necklace he had been fingering with that excited glint in his eye that always meant trouble, "Stop it!"

Anna glanced up from the serious blue eyes of her kitten at Eugene who was rubbing his head and looking chastised by the pretty girl towering above him. She rolled her eyes at him. "You just can't help yourself can you?"

He gave her lopsided grin and a shrug before coming over to join them in their impromptu pow wow circle on the floor. Rapunzel to sat with them after setting the lemonade and spoons in the middle of the circle. Because the blond had the odd habit of bringing spoons instead of cups.

Hans abandoned his quest of finding naked pictures of Anna or any of Anna's ex girlfriends and spun around in the chair to face the group on the floor who were already taking turns spooning mouthfuls of cold liquid into their mouths, "So, Anna Banana, you gonna tell us why you called this emergency meeting?"

Anna held up a finger and pulled the spoon from her mouth with a loud pop, "Firstly, do not ever call me that again. It's weird. And gross. And weird. Secondly, yes."

Merida threw another book to the floor before letting out a loud sigh and sitting back up, legs swinging back and forth against the window seat, "Well? Talk already."

Anna clapped her hands together with a resolute nod that drew her friends in like the climatic piece in a drama on screen, all of them leaning towards her slightly from where they were seated, "So as you are all aware my step sister is gorgeous."

Hans snorted and folded his big bulky arms across his chest, muscles flexing unintentionally, "Gorgeous? More fucking like sexiest piece of ass this side of the world."

Merida nodded and pointed a finger at Hans, her long nail painted a dark crimson that rivaled the fire orange of her wild hair, "What he said."

Anna glared at the both of them, her jealousy unfurling within her chest and threatening to lash out at them with its long tendrils, "Watch it."

Rapunzel narrowed her mossy green eyes at her cousin, pulling her spoon away from her lips and pointing it towards the fuming girl across from her, "You like her don't you?"

Anna snapped her heads towards her always perceptive cousin, "Um..."

Olaf leaned forward on his knees, eyes alight with excitement, and clapped his hands in front of him, "You do! Oh, that's nice. You two would make pretty babies."

"Olaf!"

Kirstoff raised a hand to silence them before they could begin bickering and turned a serious look toward Anna, "But she's your sister..."

Anna shrugged demurely and glanced down, twisting her fingers into the plush carpet beneath her, "Not..._technically_."

Hans leaned forward in the computer chair, looking more serious than Anna had seen him in a while, "No Kirtstoff is right. She is your sister. That's weird."

Anna peered up at Hans like she were looking at a stranger, not entirely sure she was hearing correctly, "For real? I thought out of everyone you'd be the one who would jump right on this."

Then he was the smirking, arrogant Hans she knew well and he was again eyeing her hungrily the way he did with any human that was female and above a 6 on his scale, "Oh don't get me wrong, two hot lesbian sisters going at it is like the hottest thing I've ever heard. And normally I'd be giving you two thumbs up for that one but I called dibs on Elsa so you aren't allowed to do anything until I'm finished with her."

Maybe it was the heat. Heat made even the nicest of people so irritable they just snapped and went on a killing spree. Maybe it was her jealousy that had always been a problem with everyone she dated but was so much more intense with Elsa then it had ever been for anyone else. Or maybe it was just because she was tired of Hans treating woman like they were silly things to keep his bed warm and his cock happy. Maybe it was a combination of all three. Whatever it was, it made Anna mad. Mad enough to jump to her feet and go punch her friend squarely in the jaw. He was made of sturdy stuff so he hardly reacted to the hit, winding back only a little and pinking just the slightest around the area she hit. Anna however howled loudly and clutched her throbbing fist to her chest, stomping her foot against the carpet hoping that would help alleviate some of the hurt.

"Damn it that was a bad idea! Why'd I do that!?" She bemoaned against her aching fist. Somewhere behind her she could hear Merida's laughter, loud and full, floating through the air along with Kirstoff's chortles and Eugene's deep belly guffaws.

Hans rubbed his hand against his jaw, shoulders slumped and looking like someone had kicked his puppy, "Okay, geeze, you can have first dibs. You could have just asked, you didn't have to go all cave woman on me."

Anna jutted her lower lip out in a pout, her hand still hugged against her chest, "I realize that _now_! To be fair, you kind of deserved it. You know, for how you treat woman and stuff. But, um, I am sorry. I dunno what came over me."

"Anna! Here! Ice it!" Olaf walked over on his knees, pitcher of lemonade tucked under his arm, and took Anna's wrist to stuff her injured hand into the drink. Cold shot up her arm and stung her bones but the pleasant coolness against her already bruising knuckles felt so nice she ignored it. She patted his head in way of thanks with her free hand, smiling at him when he preened under her attention.

Kirtsoff's chortles trailed off into pitiful whines, big eyes looking sad and pitiful at his spoon held up near his face, "Hey...the lemonade..."

Rapunzel heaved a dramatic sigh and pressed the tips of her fingers against her temple, shaking her head back and forth, "Why can't I have normal people as friends? Who act normal and have normal times together?"

Eugene bumped his shoulder against hers, shooting her his signature crooked smile, "Because normal is way overrated and not nearly as fun as us."

Merida narrowed her eyes at them and stood from her seat to stomp over and join the circle, seating herself directly next to Rapunzel, "Because you'd miss looking at my pretty face."

Eugene leaned forward to glare at Merida which the redhead happily replied back with a glare of her own, both of them locked in a battle of wills as usual. It was not a secret that they had been competing for Rapunzel's affections for years now. Pretty much since puberty really or since Rapunzel had started growing boobs. Neither of them had gotten very far with her considering that if one of them finally managed to charm her even the slightest, the other would swoop in and ruin it for them. Often times it ended with Rapunzel storming off and the two of them left behind squabbling so long they didn't even notice her absence until much later.

Rapunzel let out another sigh and snapped her fingers between their faces, knocking them from their contest and bringing them back to the moment, "Not right now, please. We're here for Anna, remember?"

"Right," Merida gave a little nod, "So what's the issue? She doesn't fancy lasses?"

Anna plopped back on the floor with a heavy sigh, the pitcher of lemonade in her lap with her hand still plunged in it. That coupled with her pouty face was quite a sight. Merida struggled not to laugh at her. "Oh she does. She specifically said she only fancies ladies." She cut a look at Hans who merely shrugged with a smirk.

"Doesn't mean anything. She hasn't had the privilege of going a round with me. I bet I could change her mind."

Anna wrinkled her nose in disgust, "Gross."

"It's true."

"So anyway..." Rapunzel prompted, rolling her wrist towards Anna in a 'I need more information' gesture.

"Right. So anyway she is like, mm, how do I put it?"

"So shy its crippling her?" Kirtstoff suggested, reaching around Anna's wrist submerged in the sugary cold drink with his spoon to gather some of it and bring it back to his mouth. Rapunzel gave him a disgusted look but he just shrugged and dipped the spoon into the lemonade for another drink.

"Right! So shy its crippling her. And I really like her but I don't really know how to make her like me back and I may have had like a super bold moment where I told her I'd woo her into wanting to kiss me but I don't know the first thing about being a cool, collected wooing type of person!"

Eugene let out a low whistle and shook his head back and forth, "This is an emergency."

"Right!?"

Hans linked his fingers together and stretched his arms out in front of him, his knuckles cracking one by one, "Alright kiddies, Uncle Hans to the recuse. See what you want to do is buy a strap-on and–"

Anna quickly threw a hand up to stop Hans from going any further, "Stop! No offence Hans, but stop. I want to know how I can make her fall in love with me, not how to get her to want sex with me."

Hans clucked his tongue against the roof of his mouth and leaned back in the chair, kicking his feet up on her computer desk, "Alright, your loss."

Olaf glanced between them to make sure they were finished talking before tapping Anna's shoulder to draw her focus to him, "It seems like to me she's just really lonely. Maybe you should invite her outside with us more. Or just with you. Show her you care by doing stuff that reminds her she isn't alone."

Anna nodded slowly, her brows hunkered low over her eyes in thought, as she pondered different things that she could do to remind Elsa she wasn't alone. It was a solid idea. Elsa didn't seem the type that would take grand proclamations or flowers very well. They would probably make her so nervous she'd puke or something. Small things though, small things she could do and do a lot of.

"Olaf that's brilliant! Thank you!" She threw herself at the albino boy and hugged him tightly which he took happily, having always loved warm hugs.

"Welcome Anna!"

"Ooo! You should go invite her to come swimming with us!" Rapunzel clapped excitedly at her own suggestion, eyes lit up like she was watching one of her favorite rom coms she always obsessed over.

"Right now?"

Kirtstoff leaned forward, nodding vigorously, "That sounds like an awesome plan! It's so freaking hot I'm sure she'd love to cool off. Especially being in the attic. I didn't even know you had a pool!"

Hans pumped his fist, "Bathing suits!"

Olaf lifted his hand to draw attention to himself and his worried face, "My mom said I can't be outside very much today 'cause of it being so sunny and all. So I wouldn't be able to swim with you guys."

Kirtstoff bumped him in the shoulder with his own, grinning wolfishly, "Don't worry about that buddy! We'll Olaf proof it so you'll be safe from the sun!"

Rapunzel was practically vibrating in her seat now, hands still clapping loudly, "It's settled then. You go get Elsa while we set everything up. Go! Go, go, go!"

Anna glanced around to check with everyone first, making sure they were all on board, and, upon seeing them all smiling, she stood with a shrug. She stopped first to grab a bikini set from her drawer and raced to the bathroom to change into it real quick, replacing her sweat soaked top and shorts back on overtop, then crept up the steps to Elsa's room. The door was closed and foreboding, as it had been every day since she had moved in. She had developed a small fear for closed doors ever since they were tied to rejection for her. Constantly knocking on Elsa's door to have no reply for months on end had done that to her. This time she didn't knock at all having no patience for Elsa's rejection and just swung the door open. Elsa was, predicably, at her computer with a pair of big bulky headphones on. Anna could hear the music coming out of them from where she stood. Her fingers were flying across her keyboard at lighting speed, gorgeous blue eyes scanning the screen intently as she wrote. It never failed. Seeing her again, as always, sent a little thrill through Anna that made her feel like she could fly. Grinning, she skipped over to Elsa and leaned her head over her shoulder to read what she was writing about. Something fluffy about a mother and a baby daughter it looked like. Cute. She leaned a little closer and blew hot air across her exposed neck. A shriek tore from Elsa and she jumped so high and hard she fell from her chair, the cord of her headphones pulling taunt and ripping loose from the jack in the face of her computer. She burst into a fit of giggles at poor Elsa's expense but she couldn't help it, the blond was just so cute. Everything she did made Anna's heart melt for her.

"Anna! What...what are you doing!? Why didn't you knock?" Her wide frightened eyes cut to the still open door before drifting back to Anna standing above her.

Anna shrugged and crouched down in front of Elsa, reaching out without thinking about it and ran her finger up her leg from the top of her foot to her knee to where the hem on her capris covered her, "You wouldn't have answered. Are you busy?"

Elsa's chest was heaving, whether from her crippling nerves or Anna's compulsion to touch, she didn't know, "What?"

"Right now, are you busy right now? Like, what are you doing?"

"Oh...um," She looked over at her computer, eyes still big and bright with fright, "just a little work for one of my classes."

Anna slid her finger up over the cuff of her capris to push over Elsa's thigh, her whole hand flattening out and giving the firm muscle a light squeeze, "Can it wait?"

She saw the movement of Elsa's throat when she swallowed and her eyes move to watch Anna's adventurous hand touching her, "I...yes I suppose...why?"

"Great! I want you to come swimming with me." She jumped to her feet but not before grabbing hold of Elsa's hands and pulling her up too. The blond wobbled on unsteady feet for a moment, caught off guard by Anna's sudden move, but stabled herself rather quickly. She looked shaken like Anna had just invaded her territory and attacked her when she was asleep but that, Anna had come to realize with great sadness, was Elsa's default look. It always tugged furiously at Anna's heart when Elsa looked like that, so lost like a little girl her mommy had forgotten at the super market. She just wanted to reach out and pull her into her arms and never, never let go.

"Swimming?"

"Yes! It's bloody hot. Don't tell me you didn't notice?"

Elsa slicked sweat off her temple with the back of her finger, probably not realizing she had done it, "I noticed."

"Perfect. Then slip into something swim ready and lets go meet everybody at the pool."

Elsa's entire body froze up, muscles going tense beneath her creamy skin, "Everybody...? Is...are your friends here...?"

"Yup and they are looking forward to seeing you again."

Elsa glanced over at her window the made up the entire left wall of her room, the window that their pool and the neighbors could be seen out of, "Is your hairy friend here as well?"

Anna furrowed her brows in confusion, tilting her head to side, "Hairy? Oh, you mean Hans? Yeah but don't worry, I set him straight!" She held up her fist with purpling knuckles and shook it the emphasize what she meant. Elsa lifted her perfectly manicured brows above her eyes, coming forward half a step to take Anna's fist between both her extremely soft hands. Her worried eyes ran over each knuckle in silence, one of her thumbs sliding up her wrist to smooth soft circles into the purple bruises. It sent a little shiver down Anna's spine.

"Oh Anna," Her voice was soft and sincere and so sweet in a way she hadn't heard before, the tender side of Elsa coming out for the first time in front of her, "You shouldn't have done that. Violence isn't the answer to anything and only leads to everyone getting hurt in the end. And look at your pretty hand, it's bruised...oh Anna..." Elsa's lower lip trembled and, for a terrible moment, Anna feared she might cry but instead she lifted Anna's fist so she could press a firm kiss against her foremost knuckle with soft, soft lips. Anna swooned at the gesture. She swooned god damn _hard_. It was the first time Elsa had initiated contact between them and for Anna it was a magical moment she'd keep locked away in her heart of hearts forever but Elsa, realizing it, grew uncomfortable and dropped her hand. She was blushing sweetly and couldn't meet Anna's eyes.

"Well, if it makes you feel better, I apologized afterwards."

Elsa gave her a tiny little smile that made Anna's heart go wild, thumping against her chest like it wanted to break out and run right over to live in Elsa's hands.

"That doesn't really excuse it Anna."

Anna waved her off like she was talking gibberish, "It's just Hans. No one likes him anyway."

"Then why are you friends with him?"

Anna tilted her head back and forth as she pondered the question, "Because...he's okay sometimes. Most of the times he's an annoying asshole but sometimes, just sometimes, he can come through and be a decent guy. Plus his dad owns the third largest chocolate factory in America and hanging out with him scores me all kinds of delicious chocolate sweets during the holiday seasons. I die for chocolate Elsa!"

Elsa, for the first time since she had met her, laughed. It, like everything else about the girl, was timid but beautifully melodic and carried through the room, filling it with its light graceful sound. Anna found herself leaning forward to catch more of it, have it wash out her ears and leave nothing behind except that perfect sound forever. Likewise, Elsa's eyes lit and sparkled in a way she hadn't seen before. Happiness swam around the clear blue waters of her irises and made it seem like Elsa blossomed beneath its light, looking heavenly in her weight free mood. In that instant Anna decided she would do whatever it took to make Elsa look like this again. Happy was the best look for the girl. Finally she settled and locked her glittering eyes with Anna's, pink full lips pulled up into a bright, toothy smile.

"I like chocolate too."

Anna nodded stupidly, totally dumbstruck by the sheer beauty Elsa was, "Uh huh. I'll buy you some."

Elsa tilted her head cutely, her thick braid shifting off her shoulder to behind her back, "You don't have to do that."

Anna blinked, "Do what?"

"Buy me chocolate."

"Oh. That. Sure I do! I mean will, sure I will! I do will," Anna let out a wistful, dreamy sigh, "You're gorgeous."

Elsa jerked her head back like Anna had shocked her, "What?"

Anna blushed brightly and shoved her hands into her pockets, averting her gaze to the window, "What?"

"You said-"

"You better change into your swim suit. I'm sure they are wondering where we are." She gestured towards Elsa's Closet of Wonders that seemed to have everything any female would ever need in it. Elsa wrung her wrists nervously, the happiness draining from her eyes and–wow–they looked almost dull now compared to how they had been shining before.

"I, um, I actually don't know..how to swim..."

"What? Seriously?"

Something crossed Elsa's face, something dark as a shadow that left her ashen and trembling. She looked more scared than Anna had ever seen her. Anna reached out to touch her but she flinched away, sinking her nails into the wrist she had just been wringing near raw.

"I'm not very fond of water."

Anna furrowed her brows, "Why?"

Elsa pursed her lips, eyes going hard which warned Anna that, soon, she'd snap at Anna and they'd be back to square one, "I don't want to talk about it."

"Well," Anna scuffed the tip of her shoe against Elsa's floor, twisting her hands deeper into her pockets, "Okay I guess. I'm sorry."

Elsa dropped her shoulders and her chin, "Sorry you had to bother coming up here to ask."

Anna shook her head and gave Elsa a sheepish smile, "Worth it to see you." Then, on impulse and because she knew she'd have to leave and wouldn't get to see Elsa again for a while, she stood up on her toes and pressed a lingering kiss against her cheek. Warmth blossomed beneath Anna's lips, alerting her to Elsa's blush, and she fought her smile in favor of holding the kiss. Her hand lifted to brush her fingertips down the length of Elsa's sharp jaw, needing as much contact as was allowed to her right now in their current not-platonic-but-still-friend-zone state, then pulled away. They both let out a shaky breath.

"Well," Her eyes shifted from Elsa's left eye to her right then back and forth again, searching for any signs of discomfort in them, "I'll think up something you will like then, okay? And then I'll convince you to come with me."

Elsa gave a little nod and opened her mouth to say something but snapped her mouth shut when they both heard it. Thunder against Elsa's steps. Crack for crack it continued to storm up the steps until Ashton appeared at the top in the doorway. His look, before he noticed Anna standing there, sent cold fear through her like someone had dumped a bucket of ice water over her head. Granted she now knew about the abuse but to see that look, a look of pure hatred and seething fury, it made her see this all a little differently. For a brief second she lived in Elsa's body, she saw what it was to be a little girl and to have her papa rush up stairs looking at her like _that_ just before he rushed her with his huge fists. She was ashamed at the amount of fear she felt, that it made her shake in her clothes, and made her want to run away as fast as she possibly could. But then he did notice Anna and it grew temperate for a moment, eyes dimming but still showing self righteous fury burning in them, and his hands at his hips unfurled. Anna stepped in front of Elsa to protect her without even thinking.

"Anna? What are you doing up here?" His voice was the devil. Dark and evil and housing promises of pain and torture within each flux and flex in his tone. Anna's spine turned to jell-o within her body and she could have flopped in half without being able to stop herself if not for the little bit of pride she had holding her up. It was no wonder Elsa was the way she was, just this little flash of his anger had Anna so terrified she could feel tears in her eyes and he hadn't even tried to hit her. Elsa had lived with this all her life.

"I came to see if Elsa wanted to come swim with me and my friends." God why did her voice have to sound so weak?

His eyes grew impossibly more hard, switching over to look at Elsa behind her, "She can't swim. Leave. Now. I need to talk with her about something."

Anna opened her mouth to protest, to tell him to fuck off, but nothing came out. Since when had she ever been rendered speechless by anything, for any reason? She felt Elsa touch the small of her back lightly, it was just a brush but she understood what it meant. Elsa wanted her to leave. She clenched her jaw and gave a subtle shake of her head. She may be scared out of her mind and unable to form words but she wouldn't abandon Elsa. Not now. Not when she was sure if that door closed with her outside and Ashton inside of it Elsa would get hurt. But she felt the brush again and it broke her heart. How could Elsa want her to leave? Didn't she realize what an evil thing her father would do to her if Anna left them alone?

Ashton stepped further into the room and pointed sternly at the door, "I said _leave Anna_."

She glared at him and opened her mouth to give him a big fat no but, before she could, Elsa pressed her palm between Anna's shoulder blades and pushed. Hard. She was sent stumbling past Ashton and through the door, narrowly falling down the stairs before she caught herself. No. The door slammed behind her, the lock clicking into place. No, no! She rushed back to the door and slammed her outside of her fists into it, ignoring the jolts of pain that shot up her wrist upon each hard connection. Though the door muffled quite a lot it didn't block out the sound of skin making contact with skin and Ashton's growling voice. His words were lost through the wood but the tone and sound were clear enough. Anna hit the door harder, frantic, and not even aware that her flesh had tore from the force and was now welling up with blood that was staining the white paint of Elsa's door.

"You _prick_! Don't _touch _her!"Another fist to the door. Another. Another. Another.

"I swear to fucking god! _Open this fucking door you piece of shit_!" Her heart was beating so hard and fast in her chest it felt like she was having a heart attack. It was getting more and more difficult to take in air and it could have been because she was bordering on hyperventilating or that she was crying so hard but she wasn't sure. None of it mattered. Not with Elsa being beaten on the other side of a door that her weak little hands couldn't break down. God damn it, she had never been so ashamed of herself for being so small. If she were just a little stronger, a little taller, she could swat it out of her way like a fly. But above her annoyance over that was one thought, thrumming through her like the blood pumping furiously through her veins; _get to Elsa, save Elsa, get to Elsa, save Elsa. _

Finally she heard Ashton's footsteps nearing the door and stepped back, aching fists finally unfurling. She flinched at the string that shot up her arm and glanced down to see most of the skin on the heel of both of palms had been battered to the point of breaking. No matter. Elsa had probably suffered worst. The door opened and she snapped her head up to sneer at Ashton who was glaring right back at her. He stared her down and she, though tiny and struggling to breath, didn't fear him enough to not stare right back.

"_Don't you say a fucking word_." Anna's only response to that was to spit right in his face. Anger lit up his eyes and he lifted a hand to smack her with–she felt pride burn through her for not flinching beneath it–but he curled his fingers in with a sneer and dropped it again. Her chest swelled and she grinned at him without any hint of humor or kindness in it.

"Don't touch her again and I won't."

He stepped into her space and–fuck–he was huge this close to her. How had she never noticed before? He was all muscle and like 6 feet tall. His hand lifted again to poke her dead center in her chest and just that knocked the breath out of her.

"You don't call the shots. You keep your mouth shut and everything will stay the same. You open your mouth and you will never see Elsa again. That I promise you." He blew past her, knocking his shoulder against hers, and started down the steps. With tear filled eyes she lifted a hand to her shoulder, kneading her fingers against the stinging muscle, and glared down at her step father.

"I won't let you get away with this. I swear to you on my life that I will make sure you rot in prison until the day you die. _I fucking hate you_, you good for nothing _piece of shit_. No man coward _filth_." His blue eyes peeked over his shoulder at Anna, a look in them that practically dared Anna to try anything, before they, with him, disappeared around the bend in the stairs. She stood there for a single second more, glaring at the space he had left behind, before she turned and bolted into Elsa's room. The girl was lying on the floor beside her bed, curled up and hugging herself as her whole body heaved with soundless sobs. Anna sunk to her knees beside her and took the girl into her arms without thought or a word spoken. Elsa gasped and turned her head to look at Anna, large eyes wide with fear, probably expecting round two from her father but getting Anna's face instead. The sight she was in twisted Anna's stomach tighter. There was a split in her near white eyebrow, blood trickling down onto her eyelid. Her right cheek was already coloring in a sick looking purplish yellow beneath the pink agitated flesh. Her neck. Her neck was the worst. A prominent hand print colored the cream white of her throat, red from irritation and dark and molted with concealed blood beneath the surface on the skin. Ashton had been choking her. A sob tore from Anna's chest, tears dripping from her cheeks onto Elsa's face.

"Anna...? Why..." Her voice cracked on the last word, dying out. It sounded like she had swallowed glass. Anna hugged the girl tightly to her chest, burring her face in Elsa's sweet smelling hair.

"No more Elsa. I won't ever let this happen to you again. That bastard will never lay another hand on you. I promise. I will protect you–_I will always protect you_–I'm here Elsa. You are not alone anymore, I'm here and I'm not going to leave you."

Tears spilled from Elsa's eyes, mixing with Anna's own that continued to hit her face, "Anna..."

Anna shook her head, a sob stuck in her throat making it difficult to speak, "Don't talk. You shouldn't. Um, um...you...um...hang on let me..." She sucked in a deep breath, trying to calm her breathing back into a normal state. She glanced around to find something–what she didn't know–until her gaze landed on the bed. She stood and hooked her arms under Elsa's shoulders to hoist her arm. The girl was limp and hard to lift but Anna managed and led Elsa to the bed which the blond simply collapsed in. Quickly she darted over to shut and lock the door and go close the curtain in front of the large window but not before glancing out of it to see Ashton outside talking to her friends who were filtering out of the pool and being led into the house. Probably being told to leave. She'd worry about it later. Elsa was her main priority. Now in the darkened room she walked back over to climb into the bed with Elsa and pulled the girl into her arms, resting their foreheads together.

"Anna..."

"Shh...I'll keep you safe. Go to sleep pretty girl." She pressed a kiss above the nasty looking cut in her eyebrow then another kiss to the tip of her nose and another to her bruised cheek. Lastly she kissed her mouth, a tender brush of lips that could easily be passed off as not a kiss at all it was so light. But Elsa felt it. And so had Anna. And they both felt the well of emotions that came with it. Elsa's rattling hand squeezed between their bodies to grab hold of one of Anna's braids and just grip it like it was the only thing keeping Anna there.

"Don't ever leave me..."

Anna shook her head and pressed another kiss to her forehead, "Never. I'll fix this. Somehow, someway, I'll fix this."

**I know. This one was so intense I almost re-wrote it and didn't post it but this was mandatory for the plot to proceed. I promise it...probably...won't get any worst than this. At least not for a very long time. Mostly there will...well I don't want to give it away. Just don't stop reading because it got intense! It has a happy ending, I promise! **


	5. Chapter 5

**Let's see if I can keep up the streak I have going and bang out another chapter huh? Also, just so you are all aware, I am very grateful for your reviews. They have been motivating me to keep on writing (and neglecting my other stories) so thank you very much. **

Elsa's world had been rocked the day Ashton had choked her. It wasn't often that he did things that actually threatened her life like that. He wasn't a fool and even in her disoriented state of mind she knew as well that what he did to her was wrong on some level. Child abuse he could easily get away with thanks to all his power and, now that she was an adult, domestic violence as well. Murder would be a harder thing to sweep beneath the rug. But sometimes, sometimes he got this fire in him that made him just want Elsa gone. Or at least that's what it felt like to her and it was always, always her mothers fault. Shortly after she left them she sent a letter–a thick pretty blue envelope with her elegant scrawl covering the front of it–to Elsa and before the little girl could read it her father ripped it to pieces in front of her. Then he had grabbed her by her hair and dragged her outside, barefoot, into the snow and threw her into the pool that had iced over on the top. She could still feel her body sink to the bottom as the cold stabbed at her muscles and sunk into her every bone, every organ, freezing her solid. Her arms and legs had flailed uselessly as she tried so hard to pull herself to the surface until they had grown to cold to even move anymore and she submitted to it all. Seconds later her lungs began to burn and she had no choice but to breath in the liquid around her in hopes of drawing in oxygen. It burned like acid going down and filled her lungs like glass, cutting her to bloody little shreds inside. The neighbor had pulled her out. Ashton had thrown her in and gone back inside, leaving his daughter to her fate. Ever since then Elsa had been more afraid of water than anything else in her entire life. Occasionally, over the passing years, her mother would send another letter and, like before, Ashton would go ballistic. Elsa never saw the letters but she always knew when she got them. That day another letter had come in and Elsa was certain he would have truly killed her if Anna hadn't been outside the door.

Anna. She was the one who had rocked her world. Many, many days had passed with Elsa feeling an all consuming loneliness that tore at her and bent her beneath its heavy, hopeless weight but then Anna came and with a smile and a giggle she lifted it. Many times Elsa had been beaten into the floor but never had someone been there to collect her and comfort her afterwards. It felt like walking into heaven and having an angel take her into it's arms. Moreover, it felt like a revelation. Being hit, being told she was worthless, everyday of her life since she was just a child had demented her thinking, had formed her into a sheltered socially stunted girl, and for so long she believed this was it for her. There was nothing, no way, she could live outside of Ashton's reach. Anything the outside world had to offer was new and dangerous and something she could not survive without her fathers help. She had truly believed this until Anna had come into her room–into her life–and hushed her fears, hushed her pain, promised her safety and security. Then she kissed her. Elsa had been in such a state of shock at the time she hadn't kissed back but the small brush of Anna's lips against hers was so much of an emotional overload she probably would have fainted if she had kissed back. Elsa had never been touched by hands, or anything else, in a loving way before so Anna's lips, Anna's kiss, had felt like an insight to a world she had just discovered. Love. Turns out it wasn't a warm feeling at all. It was cool and refreshing like a soft breeze, it made her skin prickle and it soothed the burn of emotions that had always, before this, felt like hellish demons and it was definitely what she felt for her step sister. Perhaps it was unethical because of their situation and perhaps it was unwise because of her fathers ever constant danger hanging over her but it was also something that couldn't be fought and something that was shared between them since they had met. Little was known about each other, little had been shared, but it didn't effect their emotions and their longing like it would in a normal relationship. They weren't anything with a name or a title and they probably wouldn't be soon if ever because they didn't need it.

Since that day their dynamic had changed and it frightened Elsa but she went along with it. She found she'd go along with anything as far as Anna was concerned. Her step sister wouldn't allow Elsa to coup herself up in her room anymore unless it was for her school work on her computer and even then Anna would be milling around the background doing something. Yes, Elsa had needed to hide out long enough for her face and neck to heal completely, but once she was free of bruising Anna had whisked her away. Anna would drag Elsa down to her room to visit with her precious kitten or her friends when they could come over. Slowly Elsa was building up a trust for them and had even managed to initiate a few conversations with them. Hans still made her extremely uncomfortable and Merida's strong, independent character was very intimidating to her and for that Anna couldn't invite them over at the same time if Elsa was around. It was too much for her on some days. Rapunzel was very quick to hug her and wanted to play with her hair which, had at first, frightened her out of her wits but now she only tensed and flinched a little from. She and Eugene didn't get along very well at all. His kleptomania bothered her and her 'prissy royal tude' (according to him) bothered him. Out of all of Anna's friends it was Kirstoff and Olaf that she liked and was the most comfortable with. Kirstoff was a gentle giant with a sweet roughish nature and surprisingly gentle hugs that he always asked for permission first before he gave them to her. Her only problem with him was that, as she had found out one day, he had been Anna's first boyfriend and subsequently her first time. They were just friends now, great friends even, but Elsa still felt...odd around him. Like she wanted to keep him away from Anna and never wanted him to ever touch her. Ever. Olaf though was just as sweet with his boyish charm and sometimes childish take on the world and not at all tied to Anna romantically or sexually. That made him her favorite.

While those times were nice they were not Elsa's favorite. No, Elsa's favorite times were when she and Anna were alone. In her room, outside near the hellish pool she'd never go in again, off around town somewhere, it didn't matter. Any time when Anna's entire focus was solely on Elsa were the very best of times for her. It wasn't even that they did things that were vastly romantic or overtly sexual, they just were and that was so much for Elsa. Walking down the street holding hands with Anna going on and on about some random thing that had been on her mind made Elsa feel like she was falling in love anew. That made it difficult for her to share intense kisses and, rarely, some fondling. She could only handle so much before she had to stop. She knew sometimes it bothered Anna like when she wanted to touch Elsa but Elsa moved her hand away or when she wanted a kiss and Elsa turned her head but she never complained and always seemed to get over it very quickly. She would always be grateful to her step sister for that. She just seemed to understand that Elsa needed to grow more comfortable with contact before they could advance into even regular things like a hand on the thigh or a kiss to the neck. For that it was unspoken but understood that sex was out of the picture for a very, very long while. But Anna didn't seem to mind and was to focused on learning everything about Elsa, and Elsa learning about Anna in return, for the time to be a bother. They were a young couple after all and needed to keep it carefully hidden from their parents anyway. Adding more to that this soon would have been folly.

Summer was nearly over though and Elsa was beginning to grow afraid since that would mark the end of their days spent together before Anna went off to school. So far Anna had kept her promise of protecting her from Ashton. Somehow, Elsa didn't really know how, Anna would always be there a split second before Ashton was and would steadfastly refuse to leave until Ashton did. He may have been a troubled man but he wouldn't be stupid enough to hit Anna or hit Elsa in front of Anna. At least for now. Elsa could see the irritation building up behind her fathers eyes and soon he wouldn't be so kind or so smart, he'd simply hit her and if Anna got in the way then he'd move her, most likely with violence. That was why she feared Anna's return to school. Without the girl there to protect her she didn't know what she would do when Ashton came up to her room. But that was still a few weeks away, for now she wouldn't worry. Especially when she was in an almost happy mood among Anna and her company in Anna's room. They were in the midst of a Disney movie marathon, having already watched Beauty and the Beast, Mulan, and The Little Mermaid. She was surprised to find out that all of the teenagers were obsessed with Disney movies. Elsa was safely nestled in the corner on a plush beanbag chair away from everyone else clustered together closer to the TV. She was watching their reactions more than the actual movie. Most of them, including Anna, knew all the words along with all the lyrics to almost every movie they watched. Marshmallow was curled up in her lap purring beneath her fingers messaging behind his ears and along his back. She, aside from Anna, was the only person the kitten didn't bat at or run away from and because of that he had become one of the people Elsa allowed into her space as well. They were similar in that way.

The group huddled on the floor were in the middle of singing One Jump Ahead from Aladdin when Irene gave a little rap to the door before entering. Irene was something of a trouble for Elsa. The woman was always so kind to her and, since she had begun joining the family meals now and coming down more often, they had gotten a little closer but she was so very perceptive, almost more than Anna herself. She felt the older woman's sharp gaze on her when she would flinch away from Ashton while washing dishes or when Anna would swoop in the be between herself and Ashton on the couch during family movie time. She never spoke to Elsa about it but, behind the wiseness in her eyes, Elsa could see the stirring of something that could mean trouble. She feared that, soon, Irene would figure it out and, after that, Elsa couldn't be sure that would happen. She would either confront Ashton–Elsa felt that suited Irene's personally more–or she would turn a blind eye–which Elsa didn't think would happen but could be an outcome–and Elsa wasn't sure which she preferred aside from knowing she didn't want either. Her eyes caught sight of Elsa and in them was that question that always frightened Elsa, that search over what about Elsa was alluding her. Elsa ducked her head and continued to stroke Marshmallow's soft fur, delighting silently in the pleased little purrs he gave her.

Hans poked his head above the group to run his eyes over Irene's figure in her simple house dress, letting out a pleased whistle between his teeth, "Looking good Miss S. You ever decide you want a younger guy, you give me a call okay?"

Anna slapped him–hard–on the shoulder before she stood to go hug her mother, "Hey Mama! What's up?"

She clasped her hands politely in front of her and peeked over Anna's shoulder at the teens still spouting off the lyrics to the song playing then over at the silent but softly smiling Elsa, "Oh nothing. Just came to check on you all. You haven't forgotten that your friends need to leave soon have you?"

Elsa sunk lower in the bean bag, her good mood waning greatly. She was certain Anna had forgotten but she herself had not. Soon the group would be sent home so they could dress up in something telling of Ashton's wealth and would drive off to meet her father at a company picnic. Elsa had been to many of them through the years but Anna and Irene hadn't so they weren't at all prepared for what was coming. A lot of underhanded compliments, a lot of sass from drunken house wives, a lot of playing nice and putting on face for strangers who couldn't care less about her or what was doing in life. It was all about money and looking good. Something Ashton excelled at in all accounts and insisted Elsa did as well when she did manage to leave her room. She worried about how Anna would fair in such a hostile environment. Her sweet trusting nature was just the thing these people fed on and her quarks and abnormal sense of style would be something they'd zero in on and attack. Since Ashton had told them about the event Elsa had been planning ways she would keep Anna sheltered from them and their polite way of tearing a person down, trying to subtlety teach the girl proper ways of being and dressing. Anna hadn't taken to it at all. Elsa decided all she could do was constantly be there to buffer Anna from the company attendants. After all Anna had been doing to make her more comfortable in a common normal life like Anna's the least Elsa could do was protect Anna in a world Elsa was born into.

Anna heaved a great dramatic sigh and batted her eyelashes at her mother, "Do I have to go mommy?"

Irene laughed warmly and bopped her daughter on the end of her nose with one of her fingers, "Yes you do Princess. But Elsa will be there to keep you company and you two have been getting along smashingly lately, so it can't be to bad right?"

Both mother and daughter shifted their gaze to Elsa who was trying to mind her own business but, upon feeling their eyes on her, looked up at them. Anna's eyes no longer looked pleading but doting and full of warm affection for Elsa as they had for weeks now since they had begun their secret affair. It always astounded Elsa to see something like that from someone as perfect as Anna for her and her alone. Irene held that ever present warmness of a mother even for Elsa who was not her blood and even though she was still estranged to her.

"No I guess not. You'll keep me entertained won't you Elsa?" The twinkle in Anna's eye gave Elsa the impression Anna was being a little cheeky with her. The group broke out into laugher from their places on the floor and that, with Anna's coy smile, verified it for her. She flushed and dropped her eyes back to Marshmallow in her lap.

"It's just a picnic Princess, you'll survive. Plus there will be food!" They called it a picnic but really it was quite the royal affair. More like a ball that was put on outdoors.

"I guess," She glanced back at Elsa and Elsa could see, behind the bubbly happiness on her face, there was nervousness, "You'll make sure I don't make a fool of myself right?"

Elsa nodded slowly, her fingers stilling in the kitten's fur much to its annoyance, "Of course Anna."

Irene slapped her hands together and gave a single, short nod of her head, "Perfect. I'm going to go get ready. You all get home safe alright?" They chorused a lot various words of agreement that she smiled at before leaving them alone in the room. Anna turned on them and let out a sigh, putting her hands on her hips.

"Well, you lot better scram. I gotta get fancied up."

Kirstoff worked his way to his feet and stretched his arms high over his head, his back popping loud enough for Elsa to hear it from her safe corner. He grinned over at her and pointed a finger gun her way that she was still having trouble remembering was his thing and not a come on.

"You make sure you get lots of video and pictures of her screwing up hardcore okay? I am dying to see this."

Anna glared at him fiercely and pointed towards her door that he ambled through with a wicked smile, shooting her a mock thumbs up as he passed. Eugene followed after him, his fingers twitching in the way they would when he wanted to pocket something shiny, mumbling about the loot he could harvest at a fancy party like that. Rapunzel stopped to plant a friendly kiss on her cousins cheek and tousle Elsa's bangs with her fingers like instead of hugging her. Elsa had decided it was the lesser of the two evils.

"Bye lovebirds!" She wiggled her fingers at the two, giggling behind her hand when her little comment made Elsa blush and duck her head shyly. Olaf stopped the to hug them both–he was the only one aside from Anna that was allowed too–and gave Marshmallow a little tap between the ears with his finger. The kitten mewled at him and batted a tiny paw in his direction but missed, not that he minded. Hans and Merida moved pass Elsa quickly, kind enough to realize how uncomfortable their combined presence made her, and turned once they were out of the room to wave their goodbye to Anna. With them finally gone Anna let out a ragged breath and slammed her door shut and trudged over to her bed and threw herself onto it face first. Elsa smiled fondly at her.

"Are you alright Anna?"

Her reply was muttered into the bed making it impossible for Elsa to understand her. She lifted the kitten from her lap to the floor so she could stand and walk over to Anna, sitting on the bed beside her hip. Tentatively she reached out to place her hand on Anna's back at the base of her spine, her fingers flexing against the soft material of the shirt she wore.

"What?"

The girl turned her head, cheek pressed against her duvet, and looked up at Elsa's concerned face, "I said no, I'm not. I um...I may have forgot to buy a pair of shoes that match that stupid dress your dad bought for me. And I may have forgot to practice that way of walking like you told me too. And I don't know how to make my hair look all fancy and I'm sort of freaking out."

Elsa ran her palm up Anna's back to brush her knuckles across Anna's cheek lovingly, her lips pulled back in a doting smile, "Don't worry about that Anna, I'll take care of you. I'll just go up and get ready and when you finish changing into your dress come up to my room okay?"

Anna blew out a puff of breath and nodded submissively, "Okay. Give me a kiss first?"

A soft blush colored Elsa's cheeks but she leaned down to press her lips against Anna's temple as requested. The girl shook her head and shuffled around until she was lying on her back and, before Elsa could pull away, reached up to lock her hands around the back of Elsa's neck to bring her back down for a proper kiss. A pleased hum passed Anna's lips, her chest vibrating against Elsa's as it rose from somewhere low in her belly, and, the way that it always did when Anna did this while they kissed, it made Elsa's body tingle. She moved to pull back, thinking it to be a chaste kiss, but Anna pulled her back, closer, and pressed her mouth harder against Elsa's. The sudden jerk had Elsa's falling nearly on top of Anna, her hands needing to brace her fall on either side of Anna's head, but Anna didn't seem to mind Elsa's weight on top of her, in fact she seemed to enjoy it. Her hands slid down from Elsa's shoulders over the smooth plains of the muscle cording her back to her voluptuous hips, giving them a light squeeze. One thing Elsa had learned very quickly was Anna's near obsession with her hips... and her legs but mostly her hips. No matter where they were or what they were doing if she looked over Anna could be caught staring. At first she had been very self conscious about it but Anna had assured her that she stared because of how much she enjoyed Elsa's figure, not out of scrutiny, and that made her much more comfortable with it. They were still working on Anna's ogling of her ass though.

"Anna," Elsa struggled to speak now that Anna's always eager mouth had moved down to her neck, her lids feeling heavy enough to fall closed, "Anna you need to stop."

When she didn't right away Elsa pressed her palms against Anna's shoulders and gave them a light push, "Anna I mean it. We have to get ready and, um, this is...it's getting kind of intense..."

Anna heaved a great sigh and let her hands drop down to the bed listlessly, her bright blue eyes staring up at Elsa climbing off her and subsequently the bed, "This sucks."

Elsa glanced up from smoothing out of the wrinkles in her top, noting the pout on her step sister's face, "What sucks?"

"This stupid picnic thing and you never wanting me to touch you anywhere inappropriate. When can I do that by the way? Soon? Tomorrow? Say tomorrow. Ooo better yet say tonight, tonight is good." Anna sat up on her bed and threw her legs over the edge, her shoulders sunken in defeat and face still strongly pouting. Elsa gave a little sigh and leaned down to press a kiss against Anna's forehead.

"I'm sorry Anna, I'm just not ready for all that. Not yet anyway. But it does mean a lot to me that you are so patient with me."

Anna tilted her head with a pretty little smile that squeezed Elsa's heart, "Well that just makes me the best most understanding girlfriend in the whole world doesn't it?"

"Um," They had never used the 'G-word' before and it had really taken Elsa off her guard, "Right. See you in a minute."

Elsa pondered the word girlfriend the entire time she moved around her room getting ready. She felt bad for just bolting on Anna like that but she needed to so she could flee to her room and collect herself. It wasn't a bad word, she decided, it had just surprised her. She didn't realize that they were girlfriends but they were, weren't they? And what was wrong with that? That's what she wanted. Anna to be hers and for her to belong to Anna exclusively. So it wasn't a big deal, just a little surprising that Anna had used the word so carefree without having ever used it before.

She picked up the soft blue chiton styled evening gown from her bed where she had laid it out earlier this morning and stepped into it. The soft fabric brushed against her skin like a whisper all the way up to her bust where she had to maneuver it a little to fit it over herself. Ashton always bought her dresses a size too small thinking it made her look slimmer and more attractive. It just made her feel like a sexual object he could flaunt in front of his business partners to show that, yes, he was so perfect that even his seed was flawless. She slipped the single strap over her shoulder and adjusted her breasts in her dress once more before moving into her bathroom to fix her hair. She decided against her usual braid knowing that her father didn't approve of it's plebeian look and straightened it instead, giving it more length than usual and a pretty sheen. She pinned her bangs back with a couple of bobby pins and was clasping the gaudy string of sapphires and diamonds Ashton has chose to pair with the dress around her neck when Anna came in. The sight of her took Elsa's breath away. Ashton had outdone himself with the dress he chose for her step sister.

It was an olive green color to contrast prettily with Anna's strawberry blond hair and light freckled skin tone. The bodice was made of black satin lace overtop the silk material of the dress that stopped at the waist where the dress frilled out to Anna's knees. Unlike Elsa's dress that fell clear to her calves. Strange, that. Usually Ashton chose something more flashy for Elsa–this did show quite a bit of cleavage, true enough–but it covered her nicest assets, her legs. Whereas Anna's were on clear display with dark thigh highs on to tint her flesh tone. That bothered her. Ashton must have chosen Anna to be his new toy to show off.

Anna shifted from one foot to the other anxiously, her hands playing with the platinum necklace in her hands inlaid with many diamonds and emeralds. No doubt another something Ashton had chosen to go with the dress. Anything to show how that he had enough money to dress his daughter, his new woman, and his step child in finery with some to spare.

"How do I look?"

Elsa smiled softly at Anna and lifted a hand, curling her index finger in a come hither motion. Anna moved in her usual near skip type of way before jutting to a stop suddenly and changing it to the slow, hip swaying gait Elsa had been teaching her. Sophisticated people were never in a hurry to get anywhere, she explained, since they had the money to buy time if need be. Anna hadn't taken it as the joke she meant to be, believing that they did in fact have that much money. Elsa had found it so precious she didn't correct her on it. She came to a stop in front of Elsa but Elsa continued to beckon her so she took a few more steps before stopping again, this time right in Elsa's space. Elsa lifted her hand to brush her knuckles across Anna's cheek and leaned down to place the lightest of kisses on her lips.

"You look beautiful. Turn around for me." Elsa collected the expensive necklace in Anna's hands before she turned as Elsa had instructed to face the mirror. Teal eyes watched her in the mirror as she moved Anna's hair over her shoulder and clasped the necklace around her neck, fingers brushing against the nape of her neck lightly. They locked eyes in the mirror.

"You look better. More beautiful I mean. Um–god you're pretty." Anna's shoulders slumped uselessly and her head tilted, face taking on the dopey dreamy look she got sometimes when looking at her step sister. Elsa tampered down her smile as she worked Anna's hair into a tight bun on the crown of her head, slipping bobby pin after bobby pin in to prevent any frizzy tendrils from sticking out. Anything short of perfection could get Anna to become one of those snobs target and Elsa had vowed to do anything she could to prevent that. When she was finished she pressed a kiss to Anna's bare shoulder and gently pushed her towards the door.

"I chose a few pair of heels I thought might fit you and laid them out by my bed for you to pick from. I'll be there in a moment."

Anna nodded and, before leaving, pressed a kiss to Elsa's cheek, "Thank you Elsa."

Elsa watched the sway of her hips as she walked out slowly in the way she had taught her, mesmerized by the girls curves in that dress. She snapped herself out of her hormonal thoughts and put on her tear drop shaped diamond ear rings meant to go with the gaudy necklace resting in her cleavage around her neck. Ashton, though an awful man that Elsa was growing to loathe now that she had Anna to teach her what love was really like, had taste. Well, she frowned at the large necklace and the statement it made, he had debatable taste. She combed her fingers through her hair to bunch it all to one side over her shoulder before leaving the bathroom to check on Anna. She was lying on her back on the hope chest at the foot of Elsa's bed with her leg in the air so she had more leverage to tug on the straps of the sleek black stiletto she was trying to work over her heel. She probably didn't even realize that because of her position her dress had bunched up around the top of her thighs showing the garter belts clipped to her thigh highs and every time she yanked on the stiletto her underwear would show. Elsa blushed and averted her gaze to her bare feet as she advanced on Anna.

"Anna let me help. You're gonna rip your dress." Not entirely true, her dress was probably safe, but it could happen. Elsa just needed her to stop showing so much of her shapely leg and her trim hips dressed in black lace. The girl tilted her head towards Elsa's voice, an embarrassed blush pinking her ears, and twisted so she sat upright with her feet on the floor. Elsa knelt down in front of her and took her heel into her palm, wiggling the stiletto with her other hand until it slipped over Anna's foot. She buckled the three thin straps over top Anna's foot before repeating the process with the other shoe. Once finished she stood and smoothed her hand over the flowing material of her dress until her fingers caught on the tight cinch around her hips.

"There. You look lovely."

Anna wobbled her foot back and forth on the tall heel of her shoe before looking up at Elsa, more unsure and vulnerable than Elsa had ever seen her, "Are you sure? My makeup doesn't look whore-ish or anything does it? I'm just...I'm worried I won't fit in. This isn't really something I ever thought I'd have to worry about." Elsa's trained eye skimmed over the smokey look dressing Anna's eyes, making the teal of her eyes look almost florescent, and the light red lipstick she wore. Elsa herself wasn't even that talented at applying makeup, it made her a little jealous since she was the one who had been trying to look perfect all her life, but ultimately it made her proud. Anna had done a very nice job. Unfortunately this would mean all the young blue blooded males at the 'picnic' were going to be fawning over Anna and her gorgeous looks all night. Already that odd feeling she felt with Kirstoff was simmering low in her belly, making her feel twitchy and irrationally angry.

"You'll fit in better than I ever could. You are exquisite Anna. Just keep your chin up and smile at anything anyone says to you, giggle at the boys jokes especially if they aren't funny, and treat the service like you can't see them there."

Anna's cheeks colored in with a pleased blush and she dunked her head for a moment to try hiding her happy smile but Elsa saw it regardless. It warmed her to know her compliments had such an effect on her darling step sister. She sat beside Anna with a smile and leaned over for her footwear, a white pair of thigh high gladiator heels, and began the process of putting them on. It helped that there was a slit in the side of her dress that ran all the way up to her right hip. Anna's eyed her closely–rather, her legs–as she clasped each buckled against her calf, commenting quietly on how pretty her shoes were but Elsa was smart enough to know she really meant she liked her legs. She'd just finished when Irene knocked on Elsa's door, drawing their attention to the woman in a pearl colored dress with shiny sequins covering half the rippling silken material. Elsa wondered if Ashton had chosen Irene's dress as well or if he had let the woman buy it herself. Knowing his controlling nature, probably not. The older woman stopped dead in her tracks and pressed a hand over her heart, her eyes misting over as she took in the sight of the two girls.

"My, you girls look stunning. Anna! Look at you baby, you're all grown up! Oh my lord, you are making me cry and I just did my makeup!" Irene tilted her chin up and began fanning her eyes with the hand not holding her clutch. Anna giggled and stood to go hug her mother, wobbling a little unsteadily in the tall heels she had borrowed from Elsa on the first couple steps.

"Oh Mama," She squeezed her arms around her mothers neck, giggling against her shoulder, "Don't be silly."

Elsa rose from the chest in one fluid graceful motion, already switching over to a queenly mode that these types of functions brought out in her. It wasn't until she was dressed in the finest like this that she felt the full brunt of her training from finishing school kick in. Her mouth was set in an unmoveable straight line, eyes dark and cold from the silver-black makeup coating her lids and lashes, and chin high in a faux haughty behavior. She was every bit the daughter Ashton wished her to be all the time, the carbon copy of his ramrod straight, crystal cut, royal life style. Anna and Irene glanced over at her, both smiling and expecting to see shy Elsa struggling to exist in her skin, but were shocked to find a goddess of beauty ready for the world. It was a perfect persona Elsa had been using all her life when she was thrown, unwillingly, into the fray of Ashton's cut. She dipped her chin in greeting to them and lifted a hand to point at her door.

"Shall we?" Even her voice was different, crisp and powerful. When she was a girl standing at her fathers hip, she would listen to the woman at these parties talk and repeat everything they said under her breath until she could speak just like them. Now, at 20 years old, she had it down perfect.

Anna, open mouthed in shock, ran her eyes over Elsa like she was trying to find whatever it was that had changed her Elsa. She'd soon find out. These parties would have devoured that Elsa alive and it would Anna if Elsa wasn't careful. She took strong, powerful strides toward mother and daughter, one foot in front of the other with her hips swinging broadly from side to side. Irene was watching her through those eyes that meant she was documenting each of Elsa's movements, trying her damndest to understand what made her tick, while Anna's were glued to the sensual sway of Elsa's hips and her thighs every time her dress opened up to reveal them.

"Yes," Irene looked Elsa up and down, blinking at the straight posture and elegant poise of the young woman in front of her, "Let's go. Your father is getting impatient I think, he has texted me three times already."

**I know you were all hoping I'd write about the party but I thought it would just be pointless. It doesn't really add to this story except as a filler–**

–_**Just kidding**_**! Of course I'm gonna write about it! You just know something disastrous is going to happen! **


	6. Chapter 6

**Prepare your body. **

Elsa stared out the window in the backseat of Irene's family friendly suburban SUV at the landscape flying by so quickly it was all one green blur. Twilight had set in, casting a brilliant orange hue across the horizon. From the looks of things this years 'picnic' was being held in the same place as it had been before. Not surprising. These people didn't really like change that much. Ashton didn't like change and since he was the CEO of the company he was the one making all the decisions. She sighed and sunk lower into her seat, neglecting her ingrained need to constantly remain flawless in this dress. She hated these parties almost more than she hated the unknown. She hated the way pretending to be someone she wasn't–this queenly persona–made her feel inside. It was a hallow feeling, even more hallow than the silence inside her head after Ashton left her lying on the floor in her own blood. What was worst, in just a few moments, they'd pull up to the 'picnic' and Elsa would be forced to introduce her precious Anna to this taxing world of fake smiles and polite disinterest. She sighed again.

God she hated her life.

Before Anna and Irene had moved in Elsa had been content, more or less, with the way her life had been going. She was not one to complain or dream of things that would never come. She didn't like that her father hated her so much he took to beating her but, the way she had seen it, there was nothing to be done so there was no use in crying. After all, she was fed, watered, housed, and her schooling was paid for so what was there, aside from the abuse, that made her life hell? But then Anna and Irene had come into her life and for the first time the light shined in, showing her the darkness she had been dwelling in for so long. There was so much she was missing out on. Her father played her like a puppet in front of his friends–oh how he was proud that she was so gorgeous and smart then–but as soon as they were out of the public eye it was punch, kick, hate, slam, silence. When would she be the one in control of her actions and choices? Maybe she couldn't live without Ashton before being a terribly afraid child that trembled beneath the gaze of a stranger but now she had Anna. Anna had showed her so much, taught her so much, through just a kiss and a hug. Slowly Anna was building scaffolding with her affections and compliments along her weak spine to prop it up, inch by flimsy inch, so Elsa would be able to stand tall with its strength. Someday she'd be able to stand tall without it.

"Pssh, Elsa." Anna had been doing that since they had gotten into the car and, until now, Elsa had ignored her. She needed time to herself to collect her thoughts.

"Yes Anna?"

Anna perked up when Elsa finally gave her the attention she desired and pushed a pad of paper into her lap. Confused, she glanced down at it. Anna's handwriting was sloppy and she had crossed out of a lot of words, ink smudged across the page. Her eyes snapped over to Anna's hands, seeing the blue stains on the bridge of her palms. Anxiety twisted her stomach a little tighter in its vice. Imperfection.

"Excuse me, Irene?" She leaned forward between the front seats, touching Irene's elbow with her fingers lightly. The woman glanced at Elsa through the rearview mirror and smiled warmly, eyes alight with that ever present maternal instinct to cater her step daughters needs.

"What's up buttercup?" She tried not to cringe. Anna had definitely gotten her silly antics from her mother. While it was sweet and sometimes funny at home, this party and the people attending it would not be so forgiving of that type of thing.

"Do you happen to have some hand sanitizer? Or an alcohol wipe?"

"Hand sanitizer no," She felt herself grow nauseous, "But alcohol wipe yes. I always keep a little med aid kit handy since Anna is the clumsiest thing ever born. It's in my clutch." Elsa murmured a soft thank you while Anna shrieked out an indignant, "Mama!" She took hold of Irene's clutch in the passenger seat and rooted through it until she found the plastic square box with a red cross on it. Perhaps she was over thinking this, she did that sometimes, but she felt like Anna was a solider in ill outfitted equipment being sent to war and it was Elsa's job to make sure she stayed alive in her barely passable state. Loving Anna meant protecting her and, while Elsa was a weak woman frightened of almost anything, she could manage this in this little way. After she tore open the package of the wet wipe she took Anna's hands between her own and began rubbing furiously at the ink, willing it to come off with the power of her mind when she could see the wipe wouldn't get it all.

"Elsa?" She kept scrubbing harder.

"Elsa please your kind of hurting me." Her fingers stilled. A little something was stinging her heart. Shame. Without making eye contact she moved back to her own seat to read the little message Anna had written for her while Anna took up the job of wiping the rest of the ink from her hands.

_Hey are you alright? You've been acting really weird ever since my mom came up stairs to get us. You aren't acting like yourself at all. It's like you are this super chick but its like a lie you know? Like you are Elsa underneath Supreme Elsa and they really don't like each other and it's making you look so...tired and sad and like you might just fall over or cry or something. I don't know. You are really worrying me. _

Elsa let out a weak sigh. Leave it to Anna to see the tiny cracks in her power armor. She reached over to take the pen from between Anna's fingers, pausing there a moment to run her fingertips across the reddened skin on her palm placatingly. Her eyes locked with Anna's for a second and she saw the forgiveness there swirling with the worry and the nervousness.

_I'm sorry Anna. I am just nervous. These types of events are like a gauntlet for young woman like you and me. My father isn't the only weasel hiding behind his money. Trust me. I'm worried what these people, given the change, will do to you if I leave you alone with them. Or even what they will do when you are beside me. None of them are overly fond of me. _

She passed the pad back with another stressed sigh, her chest feeling tighter and tighter by the second. They were close now. Just a glance out the window at the flat grasslands boxed in by large mansions and vineyards confirmed that. She caught the curious glance Irene gave them and their note passing through the rearview mirror but didn't mind it much. Irene wasn't a threat to her like Ashton was. If it had been him who had seen she would have had too speak up about it being a story game of some kind or something else of the like. As it was Irene just gave her a kind smile and went back to driving after turning up her radio a little bit more, tapping her thumbs against the steering wheel. Seconds later, instead of the note pad being passed back, she felt Anna scoot across the seat to sit flush against her side and discreetly take her hand, hiding it between their thighs.

"Elsa," She whispered close to her ear, her chin resting on Elsa's shoulder, "You worry to much. Seriously. Just calm yourself and think about all the fun we'll have."

Elsa tensed at the word 'fun' and shook her head resolutely, "These things are not fun. There will be old men and drunk house wives wanting to know all the little secrets about you so they can use them to tear you down later. The young guys, and some of the old ones, will be trying to convince you that coming with them to the vineyard or the big house or too their cars is a good idea. It's so they can get you alone and blackmail you into having sex with them. And then there is–"

Anna squeezed Elsa's fingers with her own and reached up to turn her face towards Anna's, teal eyes blinking up at her, "Elsa. Stop. None of that matters."

Elsa opened her mouth to argue but Anna pressed a finger over her lips, stilling them before they could part.

"No. Stop. It doesn't matter because it's not a life or death situation. We are going to a party not the fucking front line of a war zone. You are going to calm down and then, when we get there, you are going to teach me how to fancy people dance and we are going to sneak champagne until we get tipsy enough to make bad impressions of people behind their back okay?"

Again Elsa opened her mouth to respond but closed it after a few seconds, realizing she didn't have anything to say. Maybe Anna was right, she was freaking out a little to much and it was just a party right? Just a harmless party.

They pulled onto the long road that led to one of Arendelle's largest wine vineyards that–surprise, surprise–belonged to Ashton. He wasn't in the wine business but her grandmother– still living in Norway–was and had given this to him when he moved to America as a good luck gift. The large white mansion styled to look like a castle glittered in the distance overtop the rows upon rows of wine grapes crawling up wire trellis, nestled comfortably atop a hill in the otherwise flat area. It was the Dronning summer home but they rarely used it anymore, not since her mother had run off. Now it was just for parties. The road they drove along was squeezed between the grapes, hugged by the purple berries on both sides, for almost four miles before it finally opened up into a large open space at the base of the hill the Dronning manor resided atop of. This was where the party was held, a large circular space paved over with smooth concrete and covered by a tall gazebo the size of a gymnasium. Two men dressed in white and red tuxedos stood on either side of the road, one waiting to escort the guests up the small stone path to the party already in full swing and the other to take the cars and drive them off to a safe parking location.

"Holy crap!" Anna breathed out beside her, eyes wide with awe as she took in the grandiose setting. Elsa just sighed and glared out the tinted window at the grapes. Irene stopped the vehicle between the two servants who bowed politely before scurrying over to open the doors for the ladies. Anna climbed out and stumbled in her heels, not use to their precarious height. The vice gripping her stomach twisted all the more tighter. Why hadn't she worked with Anna to teach her how to walk properly in heels? Elsa had learned to do that before she was even 10 years old. The butler hurried forward to catch Anna and righted her, smoothing her hand over the wrinkles that appeared in her dress near her lower back. Anna squeaked and slapped him on the shoulder but, thinking that wasn't enough punishment for his fondling, she shoved him. Elsa felt sick now. Anna didn't realize that it was the mans job to assist her in everything including making her look presentable after a near fall. God if this was how Anna would act to everything little thing thrown at her all night then Elsa hadn't been worrying enough.

"_So_! _Rude_! Mama! He tried to touch my ass!"

Irene slapped Anna lightly on the shoulder, glaring down at her in a motherly fashion, "Language Anna!"

"But Mama!"

The butler slapped her arms to his sides and bowed low, his immaculately styled black hair falling forward from the movement.

"_Mi dispiace ti prego perdonami signora._" Both mother and daughter went still, their squabble dying off, to stare at the man still submissively bowed before them like he had grown a second head. Anna pointed a finger at him and spoke to her mother without taking her eyes off him.

"Is he talkin' crap?"

Irene furrowed her brows, lifting a hand to tap her chin, "I'm not sure, I dropped Spanish in my senior year."

Elsa rubbed her temple where she could feel a stress headache already building. What was Ashton thinking bringing these two here? They didn't fit in. They would just embarrass him. She took two steps forward to tap her finger against his shoulder to motion for him to stand up straight. His vibrant green eyes stared at her with recognition and before Elsa could speak he bowed again.

"_Signora _Dronning."

Elsa gave him a fake smile that dripped with contempt, just like she had learned to do by watching her father all her life, "Hello Mario. Don't mind what just happened, my step sister isn't use to our customs just yet. Will you see to it that my step mother's car is parked somewhere nice please? Not beneath the willow tree by the second car park but in the first car park, by the manor. _Molte grazie _Mario." Mario gave her a bow of his head before climbing into the SUV and driving off to the right up the paved stretch of road winding around the hill. After he left the other servant came over, gave them a bow, and asked if he could show them to the party. Elsa held up a dignified hand to stop him which he bowed his head at and stood back a ways, hands folded behind his back. She turned back to a still indignant Anna and an excited looking Irene, the older woman's eyes roving around the area like Anna's had been doing just moments earlier.

"Anna," The girl lifted her chin at Elsa and folded her arms petulantly, somehow knowing she was about to be scolded, "You can't do that. It is his job to do those sort of things, he wasn't trying to feel you up. If you do that to one of the caters or another servant you will cause serious trouble. Okay?"

Anna stubbornly set her jaw and glared at Elsa, "Well as long as they don't try to grab my butt and talk crap again, we won't have issues."

"He wasn't doing any of those things. He apologized. He only speaks Italian which I have always found strange since he understands English."

Irene appeared to have a revolution and snapped her fingers, "Italian! That's what that was. I thought it was Spanish. They sound so similar."

Before Elsa could respond they heard the crunch of gravel beneath foot from their left and turned to see Ashton walking towards them, face lit up with her show smile. He looked predicably perfect in a designer three piece tuxedo made from the finest material, his vest embroidered with silvery loops and fern like patterns which his silver bow tie paired with nicely. His near white hair was combed back in a sleek style, shining in the light coming off the many twinkling fairy lights strung around the gazebo. Somehow, even with the short beard dusting his jaw and upper lip, he looked more handsome than Elsa had ever seen him. It was no wonder Irene had fallen so deeply in love with him. That coupled with his pleasing personality (that was nothing at all like his true nature) made him quite the catch. Having loads of money helped as well, she was sure. As he drew closer Elsa felt herself grow smaller, her chin dropping to her chest and her hands going up to play with her hair nervously. She felt the change in Irene's mood, felt her eyes on her, in that same curious way and really Elsa needed to start being more careful around her, acting normal, but it was difficult to break habit. Anna too changed upon seeing him, her eyes going hard and hands clenching into tight fists by her hips. He pretended not to notice, going over to give his girlfriend a kiss on the lips and moving his arm over her shoulders, show smile turning towards the two girls.

"Hello family. Glad you could finally make it. I was beginning to worry." He was using that voice. That damn voice that use to lure Elsa in like the Piper blowing away at his lute. It was so sweet and strong, filled with love and kindness and she always believed that if she worked hard enough he would talk to her with it always instead of just at these parties. Now she knew better.

"Sorry darling, you know us females, we take years to get ready." Irene nudged Ashton playfully in the side and they both laughed. The sight was so homey. Ashton truly did love Irene and Irene did love him back, there were just things she didn't know about him. Like his violent nature always teaming beneath his skin, boiling like a sickness, in wait for the chance to infect someone like Elsa. She saw Anna roll her eyes in an annoyed way, stepping away from the happy couple to distance herself from the lie. Ashton noticed and sent the young woman a warning glare over the top of Irene's head. That prompted Elsa. She glided over to take Anna's hand and tucked it into the crook of her arm, keeping her step sister close and safe from anyone.

"Well," She smiled up at her father, a smile that fought against the muscles in her face and made her heart hurt, "Shall we join the fabulous company?"

Irene lifted a brow in Elsa's direction as this was the first time she had ever seen the girl speak directly to her father and while making eye contact to boot. Ashton eyed her closely, blue eyes shifting down to Anna's hand on her arm for a second, before he gave a terse nod. He led the way with Irene's hand in his arm parallel to Elsa and Anna walking behind them at a slow confident pace. From the corner of her eye she could see Anna sticking her tounge out to the side, brows low in concentration, and her eyes staring intently at her feet as she walked. Elsa placed her hand over Anna's on her arm and gave it a light reassuring squeeze.

"Just relax. Let it come naturally," She whispered, chin held high and eyes firmly fixed on the point of her fathers back, "The trick with heels is to walk normal, pretend like they are regular shoes."

Anna gave a little nod and, thankfully, put her tongue away, "Okay smarty pants, what's the trick to avoid breaking your ankles in these bad boys?"

Elsa felt a cheeky grin cross her face and, just before they entered the gazebo, she leaned closer to Anna's ear to whisper, "Just_ don't_ break your ankles."

She heard Anna grumble about how unhelpful she was but it was almost completely drowned out by the sounds of finely tuned violins playing on the raised tier at the far end of the gazebo and the chattering of the many swanky guests. Small round tables spotted the floor dressed in three different layers of white and red fabric and topped with small burning candles floating in bowls of rose petal water. The tables formed a circle around the dance floor in the center of the area where couples were always swaying together in a beautiful adaptation of the Viennese Waltz. Those less skilled at ballroom dancing were off to the sides, gazing at the woman's bowed backs and the sturdy men leading them, or off in their own conversations. Waiters were mingling among the guests with silver platters raised high in one hand and a silken towel draped across their bent arms in front of their chests, offering guests flutes of champagne and hor d'oeuvres. She felt Anna's fingers twitch against her arm when one passed in front of them with champagne. Elsa's tampered down her chuckle at Anna's expense. She'd have to watch her around the alcohol. Ashton lead Irene to the dance floor without a goodbye and began waltzing around with her, blending in with the people until Elsa no longer spotted them.

"This is some picnic." Anna muttered, excited eyes drinking everything in as quickly as possible. Elsa laughed softly, the practiced polite laugh of a seasoned debutante, and gave Anna's hand another light pat. She intended to ask something of Anna but before she could a young man broke from the crowd and came towards them. Elsa's stomach fell. She recognized him instantly as the young man that had been forward with her at last years party, Arnold Weselton. He was tall and slender with a head of thick slicked back auburn hair and big bushy eyebrows above his dark brown eyes. Dark brown eyes that were zeroed in on Anna. A plethora of possessive emotions gripped Elsa's heart and she desperately wanted to take Anna's hand and whisk her away before Arnold could come any closer but she knew she couldn't. So she bit the inside of her cheek and smiled darkly at him, eyes teaming with dangerous promises. He faltered a bit seeing her face but decided Anna was worth it apparently because he came the last bit of distance to take Anna's hand and give the back of it a kiss. Before Anna could jerk her hand away and slap him like Elsa suspected she might she squeezed her fingers still resting on her arm and shook her head. Anna didn't look pleased but acquiesced.

Arnold straightened and ran a white gloved hand through his hair, shooting Anna what he thought to be a dashing smile, "Hello. I don't think we have ever had the pleasure of meeting. I'm Arnold Weselton, my father is the man in charge of all that imports and exports that deal with our little town. And you, my sweet, are the lady of my dreams. Please, I insist that you dance with me." Something was boiling in the pit of Elsa's stomach. Something that was rich and heady but sour and hostile too. Something that had been odd when she felt it about Kirstoff but now she could define as deep, deep jealousy. She wanted to slap Arnold for his audacity to speak to Anna–_her _Anna–like that. Elsa's smile turned deadly.

"Arnold," Her voice could have made frost crawl up the pillars holding up the gazebo her voice was so cold, "I apologize but I'm afraid _my_ _darling _Anna has promised me her first dance. Perhaps you can charm another lady with that weasel tongue of yours?" Before he could speak a word, or she could think about the repercussions her words would surely cause, she slid Anna's hand from the crook of her elbow to the tip of her fingers and led her to the dance floor. With Anna's hand firmly clasped in her own she instructed Anna's other hand to go to her shoulder by moving it for her then placed her hand between her shoulder blades. Slowly she began moving them in circles, very aware that Anna had no formal background in ballroom dancing like Elsa herself did.

"So that was intense, _darling_." Anna gave Elsa a playful smile, taking a half step closer than she should have traditionally for this dance so their hips would be pressed tightly to one another. Elsa blushed right up to her ears. They both glanced over at Arnold still standing there looking dumbfounded over what happened, his wide eyes following their movement across the dance floor.

Elsa cleared her throat awkwardly and spun them around in five quick circles before spinning them back the other way, "Yes well I...I don't know what came over me. I just didn't want him touching you. At all."

Anna glanced down to make sure she wasn't stepping on Elsa's feet, her eyebrows doing that thing they did when she was thinking overly hard on something, "It's okay, I get the same way. I just don't–_balls_ this is hard!–like sharing. I, um, balls. I forgot what I was saying–oh my god! I'm sorry Elsa!" Anna's head shot up, blue eyes filled worry, to Elsa's scrunched up face. The top of Elsa's foot was already reddening from where Anna had stepped on her with the stiletto. She shook her head slowly.

"It's okay Anna." But it had hurt like hell.

Anna blushed hotly and ducked her head, swaying more slowly now, "This is really hard. I don't know how you do it so easily. Seriously, you are like...god, perfect."

Elsa smiled a small genuine smile and broke the rules to touch Anna, moving her hand up to the nape of her neck and rubbing her thumb into the soft flesh there, "Thank you Anna. I've had a lot of practice over the years."

"Mmm," Anna's eyes fluttered, her head looking like it wanted to rest on Elsa's shoulder but stopped at the last second, "Hey Elsa?"

"Yes?" Elsa spun them around again, around and around and around. Anna squeaked and dug her fingers into Elsa's shoulder which made the older girl laugh warmly. When they finally came to a slower moving pace Anna gave Elsa a light swat to the arm, her face adorably indignant.

"Well I was going to say I really want to kiss you but now I don't anymore you jerk."

Elsa smiled fondly down at her step sister and tilted her head to the side, "Are you certain?"

Anna appeared to think it over, running her teeth over her bottom lip and glancing around the party, "Well...we aren't really in the green for go kind of situation here..."

"Lucky for you I lived here every summer until I was eight. Just follow me _my sweet._" She pulled Anna by their clasped hands from the dance floor, careful to accommodate Anna's need to go slow in heels. They brushed past a waiter Elsa stopped to collect two flutes of champagne from and hurried out of the gazebo into the crisp night air, the sounds of the party muffled now that they were further away. She stopped to hand Anna the glasses so she could unclasp her heels, slipping out of them, and throwing them over her arm.

"You too, take them off."

"Oh! Okay." Anna braced a hand on Elsa's shoulder so she could work one stiletto off then the other, letting them hang from her index finger by the straps. She glanced over her shoulder at the party as Elsa continued dragging them off into the unknown darkness, probably to see if they were being watched or if they were being followed. They walked until cement gave way to finely kept grass, soft and pleasant beneath their bare feet. Trees rose up around them, sparse but tall and wide with willowy branches full of pretty green leaves. Up a ways Elsa could make out the silhouette of the Dronning manor, a stone path leading up the hill to its back door. Around the other side of the path was a small creek that ran through with clear blue water cold and shallow, a bank of tan sand and scattered bedrock on either side of it. Elsa use to sneak down there as a child to sit and listen to the creek sing for her, often times lulling her to sleep just beside it. It was the only place of peace she could remember ever having growing up which was ironic considering her hydrophobia now. Elsa pulled Anna down to it and sat in the still warm sand, sinking her feet down until her toes reached the layer of cold sand the sun couldn't reach.

"Whoa...Elsa...it's so pretty here." Anna crossed her legs Indian style despite being in a dress and picked up a rock to throw into the creek. Little droplets of cool water rained down on them and made them both shriek, Anna in delight and Elsa in actual fright. She hated water. Anna giggled loudly and pushed at Elsa's shoulder playfully, causing the blond to spill a little of the bubbly drink onto her dress. It left a dark stain that she knew Ashton would be furious about once they finally returned. Frowning she handed Anna her glass and held her own between her fingers, staring down at the golden liquid bubbling against the rim of her glass. He'd no doubt drag her back to the car or off somewhere else to slap her. Her frown deepened.

"Elsa?" The blond looked up to meet Anna's gaze and from the look in them she settled, letting the worry of Ashton's fury fall to the back of her mind. Warm tender love swam around the teal of Anna's irises and her smile put the moon to shame.

"Yes?"

Anna lifted her glass to clink the brim against Elsa's, holing eye contact during the entire thing, "To us?"

The corners of Elsa's lips tilted up into a smile and she nodded, "To us." They took a drink of the champagne that slid down Elsa's throat with practiced ease but not so well with Anna who coughed and held the glass away after just a tiny sip.

"Oh god that's _awful_! Why do adults drink this!?"

Elsa hummed around the lip of the glass as she took another sip, enjoying the flavor that passed over her taste buds, "I dunno, I think it's good."

Anna set her glass down in the sand and took Elsa's away before she could take a third drink, "No it's gross. No more of it."

Elsa lifted an amused brow, "So because you don't like it, I'm not allowed to have any?"

Anna gave her a serious expression as she took Elsa's hands between both of her own, "Elsa, you are underage. I am just trying to keep you responsible."

A lighthearted laugh burst from Elsa's chest, rattling her shoulders and her words, "Oh is that so? Says the one who was telling me in the car a little while ago that she wanted to get tipsy on it."

"Hey, I wasn't thinking clearly. I was being seduced by the fancy side of life where people's picnics are five star events!"

Elsa scooted closer to Anna, her thumb brushing over one of Anna's hands, "Well now that you have been properly seduced by this life and found it lacking," She glanced at the two flutes filled with alcohol pointedly and raised a hand to brush her knuckles across Anna's cheek and lips, "How about we find something pleasant to do in way of making up for all the trauma you have gone through this evening?"

"Um," Anna licked her lips and glanced down at Elsa's smiling mouth, "What did you have in mind?"

"Something tawdry _my sweet_."

Anna pulled her head back, looking a little put off with her bottom lip jutted out in a pout, "Okay, one, I don't know what that word means. Two, stop saying it like that. _My sweet_," She rolled her eyes, "it is a fine nickname. You don't need to ruin it because he said it first or the way he said it. In fact I kind of like it but I also really liked when you called me your darling. It made me feel all married-y and really sophis–" Elsa cut off her rambling with a kiss.

"You know, it's rude to cut someone–" Elsa kissed her again, harder, with her hand on the back of her neck.

"Okay, you know what? It's fine. You can cut me off _whenever _you wa–"

"Anna."

"Right sorry." Their lips meshed together for a third time without the promise of Anna pulling away to speak. Anna tasted like lipstick and champagne and everything Elsa ever wanted. She kissed Elsa more roughly than she had before, her teeth coming out to bite into Elsa's bottom lip, and both her hands in Elsa's hair were pulling. Strangely Elsa found she didn't mind the aggression. Each tug felt and touch her teeth felt almost good instead of actually hurting like it should have. A warmness had seeped into her belly, or far below it, and it was unfurling like a waking dragon. Already she felt lost to her own desire, letting her body act on itself instead of stopping this...this teenage make out. All she knew was that she wanted Anna's hand here, Anna's lips here, Anna's teeth here and–god–why couldn't she get more of Anna everywhere? A moan slid up her throat and fell through her parted lips, vibrating against Anna's lips on her neck. The girl beside her seemed to be struggling with the same problem Elsa was of not getting enough as she let out a frustrated grunt before she shoved Elsa to the ground. Her shoulders hit the sand and, before she could let out a little pained whimper the rock to the middle of her back had caused, Anna mouth was on hers again, easing the pain away with the pleasure of her soft lips caressing Elsa's own. Anna bunched up her dress around her hips, displaying her garter belts and lacy black panties again, before swinging a leg over Elsa and straddled her hips. The feeling of their hips meshing together and Anna's legs brushing against Elsa's own made the dragon roar, or rather, her moan and the heat grew a little more intense as it fell a little lower. Anna tilted Elsa's head all the way back so she'd have room to draw a line up her throat with her hot tongue, nipping at the underside of her chin before pulling away to reattach her lips to her favorite spot on Elsa's neck. Elsa felt like an absolute mess and she kind of loved it. She didn't realize Anna knew how to play her body like this but then again she had never given her the chance too. Her hands were useless, digging into her shoulders but then grasping at her hips or the back of her thighs and then doing it again, like she were confused but really she was just so flustered she didn't know what she wanted except more of Anna. Anna picked her head up to hover her mouth over Elsa's, dark eyes staring down at Elsa hungrily as she shifted again until her thigh was wedged between Elsa's legs. Her eyes watched Elsa's face intently as she slowly slid her leg up, up, up until it made contact with Elsa's arousal soaked panties . A ragged breath tore from her. Her useless hands slid back up to Anna's shoulders, clawing pointlessly at the bare freckled flesh. Pleasure sparked up her spine, nullifying the rest of her logic thought telling her to keep quiet because of the party only a few feet away.

Anna pressed her lips against the shell of Elsa's ear, her hot breath washing across her neck and sending shivers up and down her spine, "Does that feel good?"

"_Yes_."

Anna's lips curved up into a smirk, eyes shining with utter delight when she leant down to press their lips back together. It was much softer than any of the previous kisses they had shared that evening and just when Elsa began to get lost in it Anna rocked her thigh up into Elsa and she broke apart. Her body rocked up into Anna, a breathy moan tearing from her throat, and her head slammed back into the hard ground behind her. Anna nuzzled her nose against the underside of Elsa's jaw, peppering random kisses there on interval.

"I like you like this, _my sweet_."

Elsa let out a ragged breath, her fingers coming up to wrap around the nape of Anna's neck tightly when her knee came up to make delicious contact with Elsa again, "I thought we weren't saying that anymore."

"_You're _not but _I _am."

"That hardly seems f–_oh._" Elsa's eyes fluttered shut and her back came off the ground again. Was it suppose to feel this good? They weren't even, technically, doing anything and Elsa already felt so close to that inevitable climax she had read so much about. Her hips canted up on instinct to meet Anna's thrusting and it made the pleasure all that much more intense. The simmering sleepy heat in her belly was a full blazing fire and grew brighter and tighter with each thrust of Anna's thigh against her, winding her up like a string pulled taut. Soon–god she hoped soon–it'd snap and she'd snap with it.

"Do you want me to go until you–"

"_Yes! _Don't you dare stop, for anything."

Anna pressed a trail of kissed up her neck to her mouth, covering up her panting for but a moment. She pulled back and Elsa saw her open her mouth to speak but it wasn't Anna's voice she heard next.

"You'll stop if I have anything to say about it." It was her father's. Anna went completely still, eyes wide with absolute fear. All the arousal in Elsa's body went out like a light, replaced by cold dread. Simultaneously they looked up to see Ashton standing over the top of them. His shoulders were practically vibrating with tension, fists clenched tightly at his sides, eyes alight with a degree of fury Elsa had never seen before. Not even the day he threw her into that pool to drown her.

"Get the fuck up. Now." They scurried apart as quickly as they could, to terrified to even be ashamed of what he had seen. Anna was trembling, Elsa could feel in through their hands linked together by their hips, or it may have been Elsa's own hand shaking so terribly it was making Anna's rattle too. She was dead. She could see it in Ashton's eyes. She was dead. The only thing saving her was the party not to far away. He stepped forward to rip their hands apart–a sharp pain ran up Elsa's wrist and she had to bite into her lip to stifle her scream–sending Anna stumbling back into the creek. She whirled to go help her beloved, her fear of water be damned, but Ashton wouldn't let her. He grabbed her wrist and gave it another sharp tug, sending another shot of pain up her arm and this time she couldn't stop her scream. A vile cracking noise filled the air and a steady stream of pain followed it, pulsing along to the beat of her heart up and down her arm. Ashton's eyes went wide and he shoved Elsa away, sending her stumbling down the bank into the shallow water, his head roving from side to side as Elsa continued to scream. Her screams grew louder when she landed in cold wet water, its dreadful wetness soaking into her pretty dress and suffocating her flesh. She felt like she was a child sinking to the bottom of the pool again. Her body propelled forward, trying desperately to climb from the creek, but she reached out with the wrong hand and collapsed when her wrist just wouldn't support her weight. Excruciating pain jolted her system. An agonizing scream tore from her, scattering the cold air yet again. Anna crawled up the creek to get to her, headless of the rocks digging into her knees and the cold of the water numbing her extremities. Her shaking hands took Elsa's face, turning it back and forth frantically to check for what was causing the girl to scream like that, but after finding nothing she began searching the rest of her body. Finally she saw Elsa's swelling wrist bent at an incredibly odd angle and the bruising already coloring in her pale skin.

"Oh my god! Oh god what did you do!? _You fucker_! You broke her wrist!"

"No I didn't! She fell on her own! I found her like this," His eyes caught the dumped over glasses of champagne, "You were drinking and she slipped on a rock. I came to check on you both and found you like this!"

Anna jerked her head up to glare at him even as tears spilled down her cheeks, "You're full of _shit_!"

Ashton raced forward to grab her by her hair and pull her out of the creek onto the bank. He stood over her and held his fist so close to her face his knuckles brushed her cheek. She cowered beneath it, eyes wide with fright.

"Who will they believe? The underage drinker or me?" She said nothing. She was to afraid too. He slipped his jacket off and put it around Elsa's shoulders after he helped her out of the water. As he led her back to the party Anna followed them both in shocked silence, staying as close to Elsa as Ashton would let her. Elsa wanted to speak to her, wanted to comfort her, to protect her, but all of her was being bent beneath the magnitude of the pain racing through her. She felt sick and so dizzy she was stumbling along beside her father. She was certain the only reason she was still on her feet was because of his strong hands keeping her upright. All the guests were gathered on the lawn in front of the gazebo having been drawn out by Elsa's screaming with Irene at the front. But she wasn't at the front, Elsa realized, someone else was. When Elsa squinted her eyes she saw another figure–one she hadn't seen at this yearly party before–racing towards them. A tall woman, taller than Elsa even, in a tailored feminine suit that her chestnut colored hair spilling over the shoulders of. She looked absolutely frantic. The closer she came the more of her Elsa could make out like her shockingly blue eyes and her sharp jaw line that seemed so...familiar. Her nose too looked remarkably familiar and not because she felt she had seen it before. It looked almost exactly like her own nose. Through the haze of her pain she realized she was looking at her long lost mother, all dressed up and older than she remembered but still a beauty beyond this world. Ashton came to a shuddering halt, disbelief clouding his eyes. Apparently he hadn't noticed her at the party either.

Amelia. That was her name. It had been so long Elsa had nearly forgotten her own mothers name but now, with her face just in front of Elsa's, she remembered. Amelia shoved Ashton away and took Elsa's face into her warm hands, thumbs rubbing over the bridge of her cold cheeks. Sparkling blue eyes stared deeply into Elsa's.

"Mommy?"

The woman nodded, her angular cut bangs swishing back and forth across her sharp eyebrows, "Hey baby. I sent you a letter telling you I'd be here but you didn't reply. You never do. I saw you earlier with that girl I just...I wasn't sure how to approach you...oh my Angel. Elsa what happened?" Her eyes lifted to take in sight of a trembling shaken Anna looking like a ghost. Her face was ashen, eyes staring ahead but entirely unseeing until Irene ran past her and took Anna into her arms. Then she broke down into tears, clinging to her mother, and babbling out words that couldn't be made out clearly. Then she looked to Ashton who was glaring at Amelia so fiercely she would have been afraid if it was Elsa he was looking at like that. Irene interrupted the glare-off between her parents by asking what happened and forcing him to tell the lie he had already made up Elsa and Anna getting drunk. Irene looked absolutely shocked, never believing her precious Anna could do something like that. Anna was sobbing to hard to even defend herself or tell the truth. Finally she brought her pain clouded eyes back to her mother still looking at her with an awe struck expression marred only by her worry over Elsa.

"Is that true baby?"Elsa shook her head slightly, throat to tight with emotions to speak.

"Amelia. Let go on my daughter." She glanced up and saw Ashton looming behind her, his hand coming down to rest on her shoulder. She flinched. Elsa saw the push and pull of emotions flash over her mother's face like she was debating whether or not she would adhere to Ashton's demands or not. Apparently she decided too and turned to leave but not before discreetly slipping her business card with her number on it into the cinch of Elsa's dress and pressing a kiss to her brow.

Elsa watched her mother walk out of her life for a second time, this one rocking her even more than the last. She was so lost now in everything inside her she really was going to be sick. Her stomach turned violently and a pathetic whimper left her, eyes squeezing shut just before she threw up on the lawn. Or were those Irene's legs? Everything was beginning to blur. She felt Irene's fingers in her hair, on her face, near wrist, and heard her say something about a hospital. She could hear Anna's sobbing until she heard Ashton telling her to shut up. But then she was swimming in her own eyes, slipping and sliding over the hill of consciousness and she'd stay that way until she felt the soft seat of the SUV against her back, her head in someone's lap. Then she was gone.

**Woo! That was intense yeah? You have all been asking about Elsa's mom and her real whereabouts and what really happened–ta-da! Enter Mommy B stage right! Also sorry if any of you are Italian and have been offended by my bad Italian. Feel free to rant and scorn in a review. **


	7. Chapter 7

**A guest reviewer left an irritated review for me and I want to address it real quick. I apologize for my awful grammar. I do type it rather quickly and don't usually have time to read through it again before I post it. That's why there are usually so many mistakes. I'll try to make it better in the future.**

It had been three days since Elsa had been brought home from the hospital with her wrist wrapped in a blue hard cast. Two things had happened almost instantly the second they walked through the grand door of their home. The first being that Ashton had grounded Anna and forbade Elsa and Anna from interacting on the premise that it was for the trouble they got into together. The girls knew the truth behind their forced separation, Elsa more than Anna. For whatever reason Ashton had always harbored a deep hatred for anything pertaining to same sex couples and quite often was very verbose on that hatred. Many times Elsa had overheard him ranting about the sickness they plagued America with and if it were a right world they would be corralled up and off-ed. Each and every time it filled Elsa with cold dread, knowing her father would probably kill her if he ever found out about her own preferences. It was strange that all he did was instill the rule of no talking, no contact, nothing. She expected more. But then, the storm wasn't cleared yet. She felt it was only beginning to brew above their heads.

The second thing that happened was Irene. The way the woman changed was significant, Elsa knew that, but she couldn't pin point why. It was like before the broken wrist Irene had been holding her emotions in check but after it broke she didn't bother with that anymore and let them wash past the dam full force. Her care for Elsa had her constantly coming up to check on the girl to make sure she was taking the Advil they got her for her wrist, helping her with her hair and really anything else required of two hands including bringing food up to her. Not just that but her demeanor changed as well. She seemed agitated with something—her usually soft, warm features were always taut with stress and eyes darker than Elsa had ever seen them—but that agitation was never directed towards Elsa herself. For a while Elsa thought perhaps Irene was frustrated with Anna since her daughter had never been one to go against rules or anything that would upset her mother before the supposed drunken incident. Then, on the fifth day since they came home from the hospital, Ashton came up stairs while Elsa was in the shower and Irene was making her bed. It was right when Elsa shut the water that she could hear their hushed fight coming from her room about how Irene was babying Elsa, being to lenient with Anna, and definitely shouldn't be making a 20 year olds bed for her. Through the crack in the door Elsa had seen Irene raise a hand to silence him and simply told him they wouldn't be fighting about this again as she had told him how she felt about all this. Elsa felt touched that Irene would fight with her father over her wellbeing and the care she showed for that wellbeing. Ashton had huffed but allowed Irene the small victory and left her room in a pouty diva storm out kind of way. Irene was more agitated after that day.

On top of all drama between Irene and Ashton, not being able to see Anna, Elsa also had the business card weighing on her mind. Amelia gave little in way of explanation to Elsa and if the girl were being honest she wanted to know why her mother left her. She had read the card enough times that she had all the information listed memorized. Every day that passed made her more eager to call the number, to go to the address and demand answers, but there was still a fear deep inside Elsa. A fear of rejection and fear that the reason her mother left wouldn't be one she would want to hear. Amelia may have left Ashton because she wanted another man but that wouldn't explain why she never came back for Elsa or even tried to take her from Ashton. All Elsa knew was that her mother sent the occasional letter that she never got to see if Ashton even told her about them. Usually she only knew she had received one by his escalated anger he took out on her. She wanted answers and it took her nearly a week to decide she was going to get them.

It was a little thrilling to finally break one of Ashton's rules even if it was 12 years in the making. She had to wait until Ashton had left for work and Irene was busy in her study, doing whatever she did for work. Strange that Elsa still didn't know what that was exactly but she didn't mind. As long as it kept Irene close, she would continue to not mind. She quite liked Irene nowadays.

Once she was certain Ashton was gone she had slipped from her room to sneak downstairs, past Anna's room that was strangely quiet and through the living room to the eastern hall that led into the massive five car garage. Elsa had been inside the garage almost more than she had been in her bedroom in the attic to clean all the expensive cars Ashton kept. Wash them, tune them once she learned how, and tinker with them which Ashton didn't know about. Whenever writing couldn't take the edge off Elsa's awful life she would sneak down to the garage and dirty her hands with grease and oil scrape the skin off her knuckles twisting this and tightening that, strain her eyes and muscles to get at different nuts and bolts. It gave her a satisfaction to know that when her brain could not supply her what she needed then her hands could. During the summers, when they stayed at their Florida home where Ashton kept his more expensive collection of cars, Elsa could sometimes drive them on the track he owned near the property but only if he was away for work or unaware.

The door clicked shut behind her on quiet well greased hinges and nearly caught one of the straps of her canvas back pack with how quickly it swung closed. She wrapped her fingers around the nearly trapped straps and let out a quiet sigh of relief. Thank goodness this door wasn't squeaky like the door to the backyard and the door to the pantry was. Irene had super hearing and would be bound to find Elsa trying to sneak out which she knew wouldn't be an issue unless Irene told Ashton. She maneuvered her way between a remodeled 1950's Chevy pickup and one of Ashton's many expensive Harley's to the sporty Jaguar closest to the garage door. Ashton kept the keys to each vehicle in the glove compartments which made it easier for her unlike the keys for the larger collection in Florida which he kept in a locked cabinet. Before she started the car up she pulled her laptop out of her backpack and set it up in the passenger seat with a map pulled up highlighting the way to the address on her mother's business card. Arendelle was a small town as far as size but it was compact with a great many people in an even greater amount of buildings that were cropped together towards the center of the town but spread out towards the outskirts. It could be very confusing to navigate for someone who had lived in Arendelle their entire life so for someone like Elsa who had hardly left except to go to the airport or the grocery store it was one large puzzle.

Not to long later she was driving down the roads of Arendelle in the expensive car with sunshine bending around her sun visor and soft music filling the space of the car as something to calm her raging nerves more than leisure listening. Waking up this morning knowing she was going to confront her mother had been easy, thrilling even, but now that she was actually on route the thrill was transforming into needling worry that was steadfastly becoming an icy fear. She felt jittery and tense like she had drunk far too much coffee. Her fingers were thrumming against the steering wheel almost as quickly as her left foot was tapping against the floorboard. On every off second she was carding her fingers through the small unevenly cut parts of her hair that her thick braid couldn't capture. She had thought she wanted the answers to all her questions but now she was afraid of what those answers could do to her. All her life she had grown up with one parent who hated her for existing and the other was simply an enigma who on the off occasion would send her a letter or two. If she came all this way only to find out her mom didn't want her then she knew she'd walk away a crushed woman. She could stomach Ashton's hatred because of the tolerance to such hate she had slowly built but to have her mother hate her too? The damage would be irreversible.

By the time she had pulled up outside the tall intimidating building her mother worked out of she was a shaking mess. Her hair was in absolute disarray to the point she had to sit there for twenty minutes to undo and redo her braid and since she had worked herself up worrying about how she looked she undid the blue flannel shirt she threw on this morning and redid it, smoothing the long front tails of the shirt across the thighs of her white jeans. Everything took twice as long as it should since she was still struggling with her cast and the occasional miniscule pain from her wrist that would flare up with certain movements. She took her time folding her laptop up and sliding it back into her canvas bag, glancing out of the window at the tall building sharply dressed people were steadily pouring in and out of. Whatever her mother did up there had to be important. Now she felt completely underdressed and was half tempted to drive home to change but she knew if she did then she would never build the nerves to drive back. It was a now or never kind of moment. She only wished she had invited Anna along to help ease her social discomfort and hold her hand while she talked to her mother.

She kept her head down as she made her way into the large building, pausing only to silently praise to large glass double doors with large frosted snowflake shapes in the top most center of each door. Amelia had always had a fascination with snow and the beautiful patterns of snow flakes. The fascination had carried over to Elsa to the point that almost everything Elsa wore was an ice blue or snow white and many of her characters in her various stories had powers over winter. Sometimes she hated that she loved something that meant so much to the mother that abandoned her but most of the time it made her feel warm inside like she had this small connection with Amelia.

The main floor of the building was massive and extremely overwhelming for Elsa. There was a pool of people in stiff suits and pressed skirts teaming about, interweaving with one another but seeming to not even notice the others presence, and there was one long conjoining desk that ran along the center back wall with elevators on each side of it. Every few minutes an elevator door would open and more suits would either pour out or filter in the main room. Now that she was among the bustle she had little control over where she was going since she was to timid to shove back when a woman in a hurry bumped her or a man's large shoulder rammed into her own much smaller one. Eventually, somehow, she was pushed against the main desk away from the scary mass of bodies. A woman's overly peppy voice assaulted her ears even above the chatter and clamor of the busy bodies mucking about. She turned around and found the woman sitting behind the desk in one of many computer chairs lining the desk from behind, long fake nails poised over a keyboard and a blue tooth in her ear peeking out from under her bushy brown hair. Elsa returned her toothy smile with a shy little upturn of her lips.

"Hello sweetheart. Are you lost?" Her inquisitive eyes ran over Elsa's wardrobe and the canvas computer bag hung over her shoulders.

"No!…well yes. Sort of. Um," She dug around her front pockets for her mothers business card then her back pockets, finally grasping it, and held it up for the woman to squint at, "I'm looking for my mother's office."

The woman leaned as close as she could with her workspace atop the desk between them before shaking her head and sitting back in her seat, "I'm sorry sweetie I forgot my glasses at home. Tell me who your mother is and I'll look up her office number."

"Oh. Okay." Elsa lifted the card to read the name off even though she had it memorized by now, "Amelia Riavani." Over the many times Elsa had read the card since it had been given to her she tried to remember what her mother's maiden name was. Each time she tried to remember she couldn't but she was always certain that it wasn't Riavani and each time it made her feel more and more sad. Her mother must have remarried and taken another surname. It made Elsa wonder if her mother remarried perhaps she had more children and that was why she never came back for Elsa. Why would she when she had a new perfect family?

The woman behind the desk let out a noise of surprise and lifted her hand to her chest, pressing her fingers against the top of her breasts, "You're the mayor's daughter?"

Elsa blinked her surprise. The mayor? Her mother was the mayor of Arendelle? How had she managed to miss something like that when the debates and the candidacy were all Ashton and his high life group of friends talked about? Vaguely she remembered them talking about the female candidate that supported a great many things they disagreed with and how they hoped she didn't win.

The woman eyed Elsa again more closely this time, squinting at her face and her willowy frame, "Well you certainly look like Amelia but you know I can't just let anyone up who claims to be her daughter. Let me just…" She held up a long finger and pressed a few buttons of her phone. Elsa only heard one side of the three second conversation before the woman gave her another surprised look and flagged her towards the elevator.

"She says you should come up now. It's the top floor. Only door there." The two women on either side of the bushy haired one in front of Elsa shot her looks and leaned towards the bushy haired woman to begin whispering. Elsa tried to ignore them and gave the woman a quiet thank you. Their whispering grew louder once she turned her back but not loud enough for her to make out what they were saying. Either this job didn't offer enough entertainment or they were thirsty for any type of gossip. Whichever it was Elsa didn't want to know she only wished she didn't have to be the focus of their attention. She battled her way to the elevator and squeezed herself in among the men and woman cross talking over one another into their phones or with coworkers about their work. Elsa tried to melt herself into the wall and closed her eyes to block out the feeling of their shoulders pressed against hers. She didn't like large groups of people as it was but she most assuredly didn't like loud groups of people that were so close she could feel their body heat trapped in an enclosed space. The long ride to the top was testing her abilities to remain passive. At each floor they stopped on a new person got on and off dragging them in this up and down battle until she finally realized that she had to speak up to let them know she intended to ride it to the very top. The intimidation factor was far too much for her and after three failed attempts at speaking up she pushed her way off at a random floor to take the stairs. Unfortunately she hadn't paid mind to which floor she got off on and ended up walking up six flights of stairs from the first floor to the top. No matter how fit she seemed she didn't get out enough to actually exercise and was breathing hard by the time she reached her mother's floor.

The door led to a small lobby that was obviously made to be a waiting room with leather chairs lining the walls and glass tables between them littered with reading material. Oddly enough there were no bodies filling the room awaiting their chance to speak with the mayor. At the end of the oval shaped room was a wall of frosted glass a tall glass door was anchored in. Like the double doors at the base of the building there was a large intricate snow flake design printed in the glass at the top center of the door. Above that printed in swooping silvery letters was her mothers name and her mayoral status. She couldn't see through the frosted glass but she knew, on the other side of it, her mother was waiting for her.

She wasn't brave enough to walk over and open that door. Not just yet. She paced the lobby, tapping her fingers against her blue cast, and religiously combed her fingers through her uneven bangs not tangled in with her braid. She must have been pacing for a good twenty minutes before the door to Amelia's office came open in front of her and woman stepped out. Not her mother, thankfully, but someone whom Elsa wasn't familiar with. She stepped back in surprise and went to stuff her hands in her pockets, forgetting about her cast like she had been doing since she got it, and had to pull her fingertips back out when the large blue obstruction refused to fit into the small space. She tipped her head down in embarrassment and stepped to the side so the woman would have room to step past but instead she stood there, eyeing Elsa intensely until Elsa lifted her head to shyly meet her gaze. The woman had the most interesting color of eyes like amber honey swirling around the darker ring of tawny brown hugging the dark of her pupils. She had glossy black hair that hung over one shoulder clear down to her hip, brushing against the silken material of her incredibly crisp pantsuit. Even though she was an inch or so shorter than Elsa she was incredibly intimidating. Her intense eyes flashed down to her cast and an aggravated frown pulled at her darkly painted lips. Out of habit Elsa felt she had done something wrong and went to hide her cast behind her back, shoulders caving in on themselves. That only seemed to aggravate the woman more. She let out a loud huff of anger and glanced over her shoulder into Amelia's office. Seconds later Amelia herself appeared in the doorway behind this strange woman with olive toned skin darkened by the sun. As soon as Amelia's bright blue eyes landed on Elsa they lightened and a happy smile lit up her face.

"I'll take my leave," The woman spoke in a low voice that, although clearly irritated, was so rich and throaty that it sounded enchanting regardless, "You'll call me if you need anything won't you Amelia?"

Elsa watched the way her mother smiled at the exotic woman, a look that was clearly the look of a very happy woman, "Of course Riavani but it's not like my daughter is going to kill me. Are you Elsa?" Amelia's twinkling eyes lifted to Elsa, that same playful look now turned towards her. It was supposed to be fun, that Elsa knew, but it was just another thing that confused and frightened her like all new and confusing things did. She fidgeted beneath her mother's unreadable gaze and dropped her eyes, trying to will herself to disappear with her thoughts alone.

"Of course not ma'am."

"Ma'am? Lord child you are making me feel billions of years old." To Elsa it sounded reprimanding even though Amelia's voice held obvious warmth and tones that meant she was teasing.

"Sorry."

The woman let out another angry noise that made Elsa lift her head just enough to look at her folding her arms and tapping her heel against the marble flooring, "I can't stand him." Elsa furrowed her brows in confusion. What a random thing to say. Amelia though seemed to understand what the woman meant by the cryptic statement and pressed her palm against the woman's lower back. Elsa wondered if it was meant to be comforting or reprimanding or a mixture of the two.

"Hush it you sassy creature and go get me food. It is my lunch break and look," She gestured over her shoulder at her office with a mock pained look on her face, "No lunch. You'd let me starve?"

The woman reached over to remove Amelia's hand by pinching her wrist between two of her long fingers and flinging it away, looking entirely unimpressed, "Your upkeep is far too high. I'm honestly considering sending you back to Petco."

Amelia scoffed and slapped the woman's bicep which would have made solid contact if the woman hadn't moved just a fraction out of the way seconds before, "That is an awful thing to say Riavani!" There it was again. That name. Why was her mother referring to this woman as Riavani when that was the surname on her business card? Was it a coincidence that her mother was friends with a woman whose first name was the same as her last name? Or was this woman a relative to her mother's new husband and preferred to be referred to by her last name instead of her first? Elsa rubbed at the hard material of her cast while they playfully bickered. At least she assumed it to be playful. It didn't sound like true anger.

"Would you like me to get you something as well?" Elsa blinked at Riavani for quite some time until it clicked in her that she was asking Elsa this question. Immediately Elsa shook her head even though her stomach felt empty.

"Elsa it's no trouble really." Amelia smiled at in her in such a way that the nostalgia of that smile slammed into her chest like one of Ashton's punches. Amelia use to smile at her like that when she sang Elsa to sleep or when she helped wash her hair in one of her bathes. It was a rare smile as Elsa couldn't remember her mother doing much except looking sad and stressed beyond her years but it use to be her favorite thing in the whole world. Seeing it again made a hurt spread through her like venom and served to remind her that this woman who Elsa use to love with every bit of her existence had abandoned her and left her with Ashton.

"No thank you."

Riavani stared her down with those intense eyes that Elsa was sure would haunt her dreams for years to come, "I'm bringing you food. What would you like?"

"I…" Elsa wasn't use to this at all. It was making her more and more uncomfortable by the second. People didn't go out of their way to do nice things for her. At least not until recently with Anna and Irene but even then it still felt foreign to her. They were gentler about it, hinting around it until Elsa finally felt semi comfortable enough to allow them what they wished to do for her, where this woman just bluntly refused to let Elsa feel like a burden.

Riavani nodded shortly and moved her crisp sleeve up her forearm to check her watch for the time, "I'll surprise you then and I'll be back shortly. Are you allergic to anything?"

"Bees." Amelia helpfully supplied. Elsa was surprised that she had remembered that after all this time. Elsa herself forgot most of the time since it was a minor allergy and she was never outside long enough to worry too much about being stung.

Riavani gave Amelia a side glance that looked almost amused if Elsa thought this grouchy woman were capable of lighter emotions, "I won't order the honeycomb salad then. Play nice while I'm away. I don't need to deal with another lawsuit because you insulted someone or something else equally ridiculous."

Amelia rolled her eyes and made a point of speaking directly to Elsa to include her in their playful bickering, "She likes when I get in trouble. It gives her something to do and it makes more sense that I'm paying her ridiculous amounts of money to be my lawyer when she just sits at her desk all day."

"You forgot about the part where you send me out to fetch you meals when your hungry and listen to you bitch about the idiots breathing down your neck all day long." Riavani threw one last comment over her shoulder as she walked towards the elevator, heels clicking against the marble.

"I do no such thing," Amelia appeared to think it over a moment, "Most of the time anyway but that is far beyond the point right now. You came here to talk to me I'm assuming and here I am being rude and ignoring you to talk to Riavani. Would you like to come in?" Amelia stepped to the side and gestured inside her office, showing hesitance for the first time since Elsa had shown up. Perhaps now without the safety blanket of someone she knew around Amelia was feeling the awkward and uncomfortable tension Elsa had been practically drowning in.

It only grew thicker when they both entered the large office space and the door closed behind them. Elsa sat in the deceivingly comfortable chair in front of Amelia's cluttered desk and set her backpack in her lap and folded her arms overtop it. To avoid looking at Amelia who looked rather uncomfortable herself she looked around the room to take in her mother's work space. The wall behind Amelia's desk was made entirely of glass to give her a nice view of the city she governed. The rest other two walls on the left and right side of Elsa was covered by bookshelves housing thousands of books of every shape size and color. It was an impressive library that Elsa longed to look over one book at a time for classic treasures and interesting new finds. Above the shelves tacked to the walls themselves were framed college degrees and a few pictures. In almost every picture the woman Riavani appeared adorning a huge beaming smile and her intense eyes were full of kindness. While that was strange it didn't throw her like two of her photos did. One was a framed ultrasound that she realized was herself in her mother's womb and the other, tacked near the ultrasound, was an old picture of Elsa as a toddler in Amelia's arms kissing her mother's cheek. It was a picture Elsa hadn't ever seen before. As far as she knew Ashton had thrown out all pictures with Amelia in them and since Elsa was nearly always in Amelia's arms or near her that meant most of Elsa's baby pictures and the like were thrown out too. If Amelia had them then she had to have taken them with her when she ran off. Why would she take the pictures and not Elsa herself?

"Elsa?" She looked away from the pictures back to her mother worrying her lip between her impeccably white teeth, "I'm sorry if Riavani made you uncomfortable. She can come off a bit cold and vulgar sometimes but really she's an absolute sweetheart."

"She didn't seem to like me much. She kept….huffing at me."

Amelia cracked a smile, "It's not you she doesn't like. I promise."

"That….doesn't really make sense," Elsa twisted her fingers into the tail of her flannel and glanced over at a picture of her mother hugging the woman Riavani from behind, "You two seem close. I mean for a lawyer and her boss is all I mean. I'm not…trying to imply anything."

Amelia's smile grew fuller and brighter and a happy lilting laugh poured from her that nearly made Elsa jump from her chair in surprise, "I think it's alright to imply. I am married to the woman after all."

Elsa was certain she looked a fool with her mouth hung open and her eyes so wide but she couldn't help it. Her mother had taken her completely by surprise. Amelia looked a little shaken by Elsa's obvious surprise of the news.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

Elsa shook her head slowly, brows pinched together in confusion, "That doesn't make any sense at all."

"What doesn't make sense?"

"You being married to that woman…? Father told me you ran off with some man and left us behind. I always figured that was why he was so angry all the time and that was why you didn't want me. I don't…I don't understand. You ran off with that woman? Riavani?"

Amelia didn't seem to understand how to take what Elsa had told her. She was shaking her head and looked immeasurably sad but also terrifyingly angry like she was torn between which emotions to express. They sat in silence for a long while until finally Amelia rose from her chair to come round the desk and kneel down in front of Elsa, resting her hands on both of Elsa's knees and staring up at her daughter imploringly. Elsa was proud of herself for only flinching a little.

"Elsa I didn't run off with anyone and I certainly did not want to leave you with Ashton. I fought tooth and nail to keep you and make you mine. I did, you have to believe that. I don't know the extent of what your father told you but I can almost guarantee it was all lies. I love you Elsa. I have always loved you. You were my whole world Elsa and it killed me to walk away from you."

"Then why did you? Why did you leave me? Didn't you know what he was like? Didn't you know what he would do to me if you left me like that? If you loved me so much why didn't you take me with you mommy?" Tears dripped down Elsa's cheeks slow at first then steadily when the emotions she had been keeping down for so long resurfaced. Amelia reached to brush them away but stopped half way when Elsa flinched and jerked her head back. Hurt flashed through her eyes and Elsa probably would have felt guilty under normal circumstances but this was the woman who had rejected her and hurt her beyond measure so she managed to ignore it.

"Elsa," Amelia's voice was thick and wobbly, sounding choked when she spoke just above a whisper, "My Elsa. I swear I didn't want this. I did all that I could but you don't understand the situation I was in. Sweetheart you weren't, well, planned for lack of a better way to say that."

Elsa sniffed pathetically and rubbed her cheeks on the arm of her flannel to rid it of her tears, "What does that have to do with you not taking me with you?"

"Because your father's family is old and powerful and they follow the basic set of rules. Your grandmother was very controlling of your father when he was in college which is where I met him. See most of my life I had only ever been attracted to woman but I was at a party and had been indulging myself quite a bit and I saw your father there and just felt so bad for him. He wasn't very popular and he didn't really know how to act around his peers since he grew up being sheltered and treated like a prince in Norway. I saw him and it wasn't that I was attracted to him but I felt bad for his not knowing anyone and I intended to talk to him but one thing led to another and we ended up sleeping together. When I woke up the next morning I thought nothing of it and checked it off as confirming my attraction to woman and fully intended to forget about the indecent forever but then I started getting sick all the time. After a few weeks I took a test that confirmed I was pregnant with you. I fell in love with you that instant. Don't think for a second that I wanted to get rid of you or was unsure about being your mother. The second I realized I was pregnant I wanted nothing more than to be your mother.

"That's why I went along with your grandmother's crazy ideals. After I told your father I was pregnant I didn't really expect much out of him. He was young and afraid and so terribly shy that I just thought he'd want to pretend you weren't his but instead he called his mother and she flew to American to sit us down and talk. She insisted that your father and I get married even though I didn't even know his full name let alone love him. I wasn't even attracted to him but your grandmother made it very clear that if I did not marry him then she would use her power and money to make sure that you went to your father and I couldn't let that happen. So I married him. I wasn't happy Elsa in fact I was miserable but I stayed for you and you alone. Ashton was an attentive husband and a good father but we both knew I wasn't happy and that I didn't love him. He just refused to acknowledge it until I told him that I couldn't do it anymore and asked for a divorce. I told him I didn't love him and I hadn't ever loved him or been attracted to him. He…blew up. He accused me of using him for his money and lying to him all through the years and called me the most awful names. He was twice as furious at me when I told him it wasn't exactly him that did anything wrong it was just that I had never truly been attracted to men. He deduced that I was evil, all lesbians were evil, and we were out to get him. He had always had issues with feeling accepted as a mans man and worthy of affection so I did feel guilty for that because I knew my wanting a divorce for those reasons would only make all that worst.

"The divorce was bad but the custody battle was downright nasty. Your father fought me for you simply because he knew you are the thing I love most in this world and he wanted to hurt me by taking you away from me. I hired Isabelle as my attorney for that. Although I almost never call her that, I usually just refer to her by her last name Riavani. God it must have lasted at least two months and I began to resent and even grow to hate your father for everything he was doing. Eventually though he managed to either buy out the judge or find one that was so homophobic that he deemed me an unfit mother because of my sexuality. Something along the lines of not being able to give you a proper home life with a mother and a father and how it would screw you up mentally. Ashton won and I was granted supervised visits on the weekends. However whenever I tried to visit you Ashton would never be home with you or simply wouldn't let me in. Riavani tried to fight with the judge about that saying he was breaking the terms of agreement but no one ever listened. I suspect your grandmother's money had a play in that. I sent you letters as often as I could and I always sent you gifts on Christmas and your birthday but everything went unanswered. I figured you resented me for not being around or perhaps Ashton had filled your head with lies and that was why you never replied. I sent you an invitation to my wedding but that too went unanswered. It hurt more than you know not to have you there. I've missed you so much Elsa. Believe me when I say not a single day has gone by that you weren't on my mind or that I haven't wanted to just come see you. Once I decided on kidnapping you and would have done it if Riavani hadn't drove past me walking through your neighborhood looking for your house.

"I understand if you are angry at me and hate me. I'm not asking you to forgive me Elsa I just want you to give me a chance. I want to get to know you and learn who you have become. Lord you've grown up so much I hardly recognized you at that party. You are old enough that the stupid rules about our visits don't apply anymore. Ashton has no control over us. If you would like you can come live with Riavani and I for a while to get away from Ashton and if you decide you don't like living with us or don't like me then I will help you find your own apartment. What do you say? Will you give me a chance?" Amelia ended her long speech with pleading eyes and a heaving chest. Somewhere in the middle of it she had begun to cry which only made Elsa cry harder with silent sobs that shook her shoulders. It was emotional overload. Coming here today to demand answers had been a very thought out plan and even though she had been hopeful she had not at all expected her mother give her any kind of answer to her questions outside of telling her she left Elsa because she didn't want a daughter like Elsa. Never had she expected to come into this office and have her mother crumble before her eyes and practically beg for Elsa's love. She stood abruptly, dumping her bag with her laptop onto the floor heedlessly, and she took great steps to distance herself from Amelia. The woman stood slowly and wrapped her arms around her torso like she were comforting herself or stopping herself from launching forward to stop Elsa from moving away.

"This is….I don't know what to do. You are asking me to do so much. I have never….Ashton would be furious if he even knew I were talking to you. If he found out you were trying to convince me to move in with you," She sucked in a sharp breath as images of pools and large fists slamming into her fragile body crossed her mind, "This is scaring me."

Amelia made a pained noise in the back of her throat and her hands twitched at her side, reaching out for a second before coming back around her middle, "You don't need to be afraid me Elsa. I would never hurt you. I'd hurt myself before I ever thought about hurting you. I just want what is best for you. I don't know what has been going on in that home since I left but," Her blue eyes drifted down to the cast on Elsa's wrist and a look crossed her face that scared Elsa witless, "I get the feeling that is not a safe environment. I have no concrete proof but if I find out he has been hurting you or even making your life hard I swear to you I will bring hell to his doorstep."

Elsa's eyes widened and she hugged her broken wrist to her chest without conscious thought, "Why would you say that? I…he isn't hitting me. Don't…I have to go. Goodbye." Without another word Elsa turned on her heels and ran from the office, neglecting to even remember that she had left her backpack with her laptop on her mother's office floor. She blew past Isabelle who has just stepped off the still open elevator, arms full of boxes that smelled absolute divine. She gave Elsa a strange look and opened her mouth to speak but the elevator doors slid shut with Elsa safely behind them stopping anything she may have said before Elsa could hear it. She shoved her way off the elevator as soon as it made its first stop to run down the stairs and out the building back to the safety of the Jaguar. Her mind and body felt numb during the entire drive back home. Everything that had just transpired was too much for her to stomach right now and all she wanted was the comfort of something familiar. She didn't bother to park Ashton's car in the exact spot it had been in before which she vaguely knew she'd be in trouble for. However it was far from her mind at the moment. She moved through the house like a ghost letting her instincts guide her to Anna's bedroom and push the door open without asking for permission to enter. Anna was sitting at her computer desk with headphones on, watching something on the widescreen monitor, with her back turned to Elsa. Elsa moved on autopilot. She closed her door softly and walked towards Anna on shaky legs, gently removing her headphones and accidentally startling the girl. She jumped and spun in her chair with her fists up.

"Elsa? Fuck me you scared the shit out of me!" She slouched in the chair and pressed her hand to her chest and heaved a great sigh of relief. Elsa didn't respond, didn't smile, didn't laugh, didn't make a sound. She simply sat down in Anna's lap and curled into the girl, winding her long arms around Anna's slender middle and hid her face in the crook of her neck. After a few seconds hesitation Anna returned the hug and propped her chin on top of Elsa's head, her fingers messaging the nape of her neck. The simplicity of the touch and the comfort Elsa drew from it did well to ease the turbulence inside left by the confrontation with her mother. She was so worked up she didn't even register that this was the first time she had even seen Anna since that night at the party.

"Elsa? What's wrong? Did Ashton hurt you again?" Elsa detected a slight growl in Anna's voice. Usually she'd placate the girl but she didn't even think of it this time. Her whole world felt unstable, ready to tilt from underneath her and send her toppling into the universe of nothing, except for Anna. Anna was the only thing that made her feel grounded.

"Just hold me Anna."

"Okie doke. No problems there." Her arms tightened around Elsa's back, meshing their bodies together in the small chair they were both sitting on, and she pressed a kiss to the top of Elsa's head. She'd worry about explaining everything to Anna later if she managed to sneak out of there without Irene or Ashton noticing. They had a few hours yet before Ashton came home and Irene came out of her study to check on them. She'd savor that time.

**Well I hope you lot liked this chapter. Sorry about the wait. You all probably got use to having a new update everyday for that week or so. Sorry for the mistakes you are bound to find! **


	8. Chapter 8

Irene had caught Elsa leaving Anna's room after their impromptu cuddle session and asked if she'd like to join them in going to the supermarket to get dinner. Elsa had wanted to say no because she wasn't sure she could handle the emotional toll it would take on her being around mass groups of people after the days events. She had wanted to say no but then Anna had come flying out of her room looking so excited with her adorable smile and lit up eyes and she couldn't say anything but yes. That ended up being a very large mistake.

"Anna can't we get in trouble for this?"

"Of course not Elsa. Just don't draw attention to yourself."

"I'm pretty sure the 20 year old with a bright blue cast sitting inside a shopping cart and being pushed around draws attention to itself."

"What? You're a cripple! They can't expect you to walk!"

"I have a broken wrist not two broken legs."

"Technicalities Elsa. Oh look! Ice cream!" Anna swerved sharply to the right and sped down the aisle, jostling Elsa inside the basket. Somehow Elsa had let Anna convince her into riding inside after Irene had suggested that they go pick out some things. Anna had insisted that it was the only way a person could shop for food even admitting that she made Irene push her around every time they went together. Elsa only got the special privilege of being the pushed instead of the pusher this time because of the broken wrist and Anna's generosity. Elsa wished Anna was a little less generous. She flew through the door at a near running speed and delighted in Elsa's terrified little squeaks when Anna rounded corners to sharp and knocked her around a bit. They came to a sudden stop in front of a freezer door sending Elsa careening forward into the nose of the cart.

"Chocolate or vanilla Elsa?" Anna pulled open the door and held up two gallon cartons of ice cream for Elsa to look at.

"You are going to kill me with your crazy driving. I think I have bruises already…" Elsa trailed off to look down at her exposed arms to check for any marks. Anna cooed and stepped closer to the cart, dropping both types of ice cream inside without thinking about it, and took Elsa's forearms in her hands. She bent down to press a soft kiss against each arm despite there not even being a red mark on either then lifted her head to press a kiss to Elsa's lips. Elsa flushed when a group of passing men whistled at them and hollered obscene things. Anna simply flipped them after ending the kiss with a great big pleased smile.

"Do you want me to go slower? I like going fast. I keep forgetting you've never done this before."

"I suppose. I don't…going slower would draw less focus to us I bet."

Anna nodded and began pushing the cart again, at a much slower pace this time, "Good call. Let's go get some energy drinks."

"Anna…I think that is the last thing you need."

Anna scrunched up her nose in displeasure, "You sound like my mother."

"With good reason. Those are terrible for you. You're going to kill yourself drinking those and then where will we be?"

"Oh don't over exaggerate the situation. I'll only get like three."

"Three!?" Anna grinned and took off in a sudden sprint, pushing the cart faster than she had yet. Elsa screeched in fear and gripped the sides of the cart, sinking her back as far back into the cold metal behind her as she could. Her stomach twisted with nerves and a strange euphoric excitement. They dodged other shoppers getting shouts or laughter from those they passed and soon Elsa's screeching turned into loud laughter mixed with Anna's sweet giggles from behind her. Anna took a sharp left that lifted the cart up onto two wheels and sent it squeaking precariously around the corner. It came back down on all four wheels with a hard bang and jolted Elsa back into the child carrier of the cart, snapping it shut. The cart was pulled to a quick stop in front of a long line of soft drinks and Anna's desired drinks.

Elsa pressed her shaking fingers into her lips, covering the huge smile on her face, "Don't do that again. It was terrifying."

Anna winked at Elsa over her shoulder, "That gorgeous laugh of yours says different _my sweet._"

Elsa rolled her eyes and reclined against the cart, using the hood of her jacket as a cushion, "I thought we were over that pet name. Didn't we decide it was extremely annoying?"

Anna came back to the cart with an arm load of different drinks, dumping them into the cart and subsequently in Elsa's lap, "Nope. Let's see ice cream, chocolate, veggie chips for you the boring vegetarian, energy drinks for me the awesome person….do we need anything else?"

"I don't know. I'm not usually allowed to pick things out like this."

Anna sighed wearily and moved around to start pushing the cart again, "That's because your dad is a total prick."

"Anna…"

"Hey don't use that warning tone with me! It's very, very true. I don't even know why you stick up for him especially after what happened at that picnic. I'm still furious."

Elsa shoved her hands into the pockets of her hoodie and hunkered low, drawing her knees up to her chest, "Because…he's still my father Anna. And even if he is awful to me he's all I have."

"You are too nice to people. Seriously. You can't let him do this to you forever. You need to like give him the bird and smash his fish tank with a golf club. Ooo! Or better yet, we can dope his drinks with acetone…aroids….what is that stuff called? You know, that poison stuff?"

"Arsenic?"

"Yes! That's the stuff! We'll put some of that in his drinks and no one will be the wiser when he just keels over. Then we solve the issue of my mom dating a prick, me dating my step sister, and you having to deal with an asshole for a father. I'm a goddamn genius."

Elsa craned her neck to give her girlfriend a long look, "You aren't being serious about poisoning my father are you?"

Anna shrugged her shoulder, "Only if you're considering it."

"Anna."

"Alright fine. We won't kill your dad. Party pooper."

"You are very strange," Elsa shifted a little in the cart to pull a rouge energy drink out from under her thigh, "Can I get out of this yet?"

"Nope. Not yet." Anna pulled into a check out line behind a woman with three children huddled around her knees. The longer they waited in line the more chocolate bars ended up in their cart because of Anna's inability to resist temptation. By the time they reached the counter there had to be at least a dozen assorted king sized bars. The bagger gave Elsa an amused look and a friendly smile.

Anna smiled at the woman, "Hello Genie! How are you today?"

The woman spoke even as she began scanning the items Anna was setting up on the counter, "I'm doing alright Anna. I'm surprised to see you outside of a shopping cart. I was beginning to think you honestly couldn't walk."

"Walking is overrated Genie and my girlfriend has never rode inside a shopping cart. Can you believe that!? It was a totally tragedy so I had to give her a ride. Otherwise I wouldn't be a nice considerate girlfriend you know."

"That is very thoughtful of you Anna," Genie reached over the counter to give Elsa's fingers poking out from her cast a light squeeze, "Nice to meet you. You have to either be very brave or very dumb to willingly attach yourself to this crazy beast."

Elsa furrowed her brows and glanced at Anna to see if the bagger had offended her with her comment, "Um…"

Genie laughed sweetly and waved away Elsa's concerns, "Irene has been shopping here since Anna was a baby. I feel like I've practically watched her grow up. Everyone who works here knows her as the girl who rides in shopping carts. Generally speaking we aren't legally suppose to allow that but none of us have the heart to tell Anna no."

Anna's eyes grew big and sad, "It would break my heart Genie. Don't do that to me."

Genie rolled her eyes and gestured towards Anna's pout, "And that right there is why none of us can tell her no." Genie held the bags aloft for Anna to take and set them in the cart. She handed over the money Irene had given them to buy their sweets and handed the change to Elsa to pocket since she hadn't changed out of her pajamas and didn't have any pockets.

"Bye Genie!" Anna waved as she began pushing Elsa forward towards the double doors.

"Do you think it was a good idea to tell her that I'm your girlfriend when your mother is still inside the store shopping? What if she says something to Irene?"

Anna hummed thoughtfully, "I didn't really think about that. If she asks, we'll just tell her we were messing with Genie."

"That does sound believable coming from you."

"I don't like what you're implying. Hold on!" Anna sped up to a run and jumped onto the bottom rack of the cart, speeding through the parking lot. A few feet in front of them a car started backing up moving into their path.

"Oh balls!" Anna jumped off at a run and swerved hard right very nearly tipping the entire cart over. They narrowly avoided colliding with the SUV that only seemed to notice them when they blew past their tailgate. Elsa could hear the driver yelling at them for being idiots.

"Anna stop this thing right now!"

"I would if I could!"

"What!?"

"Turns out I didn't really think this through! We're going way to fast for me to jump down like that again! I'll break an ankle!" Anna was yelling to be heard over top the window whistling in their ears.

"You had better be joking Anna…"

"No not this time!" She leaned her body to the left hoping it would steer the cart in that direction. When that did not work out for her she tried moving her body right to turn the cart right. It warranted the same results.

"Well that isn't working. I definitely have zero control now."

Elsa gripped the side of the cart so fiercely her knuckles turned white, "How can you possibly so be so blasé about this!?"

Anna chuckled warmly, "Because this is fun! Move forward."

"Fun!? Anna we are going to crash and die! We could be hit by a car! Or worst _we_ could hit a car! They could call the police and get us in serious trouble!"

"Elsa lighten up and move forward!"

Elsa pursed her lips but scooted forward a few inches as Anna requested. The new space left Anna enough room to climb over the handle of the shopping cart and slide into the basket with her, her legs sliding alongside Elsa's and her arms wrapping around Elsa's middle. Elsa's eyes widened and if possible her grip on the side of the cart tightened even more.

"You're certifiably insane! And we are going to run into your mother's car!"

"What?" Anna leaned over to look in Elsa's line of sight and saw that they were indeed on a crash course for her mother's car, "Shit!"

As soon as the curse left Anna's mouth the front end of the cart crashed into the tail fender of her mother's car, jolting both of them forward. The fiberglass fender dented in around the metal shopping cart.

"My mom is going to be so pissed at me but that was so worth it." Anna breathed out a ghost of a laugh and hugged Elsa's middle. Her lips pressed a light kiss to the exposed skin of Elsa's neck.

"Worth it? How on earth was that worth it you crazy thing?"

"'Cause it cheered you up."

Elsa frowned in confusion and turned in Anna's arms to appraise her girlfriend's earnest look, "What?"

"When you came home earlier you kind of scared me. You were like I've never seen you before and I was afraid your stupid dad had done something really awful. But you were acting different—still upset!—but in a different kind of way you know? Like something or someone had absolute terrified you and you just needed to be grounded back to this world. I was so grateful that you came to me to be that person for you that I didn't press it but it really tore at me. I couldn't understand what had upset you so much and I absolutely hate it when you're upset. I heard my mom ask if you wanted to come and I kind of crocked up a half assed plan to cheer you up. Riding in the cart always cheers me up so I figured it could work for you too. I feel bad about fucking my mom's car up but hearing you laugh and seeing you smile earlier was totally worth it." Anna gave Elsa a big toothy smile that melted her insides. She couldn't help but be absolutely endeared to Anna's adorable albeit dangerous tactics to make her happy.

"While the gesture is completely adorable Anna," She tapped the end of Anna's nose with her finger making her sweet girlfriend, "Trying to kill me with a shopping cart stresses me out more than anything else."

"I'll keep that in mind for next time."

"Please do. In the mean time you can have a kiss for all your troubles."

"Can I have—" Anna was cut off by the sound of a gasp. They both looked over to find Irene standing there beside her grocery laden shopping cart staring not at them but the dent in her car.

"Mommy….listen…about the car…"

Irene held up a hand, "Out of the shopping cart Anna." Anna hung her head in a fashion similar to a scolded puppy. She climbed out and helped Elsa out after her, catching the taller blond when she stumbled. Irene walked closer to inspect the damages, running her hand over the dent and the scratched paint.

"Are you mad at me Mommy?"

Irene sighed and pressed her thumb into her temple, "Yes but not as mad as you think I am I'm sure," Her eyes caught sight of Elsa's tight posture and stricken expression, "Elsa sweetheart, calm down. You look like I'm about to curb stomp you or something. I'm not mad at you for destroying my car. I'm sure 90% if not all of the blame goes to my wild child over here."

Anna bobbed her head in affirmation, "It's very true."

Elsa swallowed roughly, her stomach turning at Irene's small joke about physical abuse, "I can pay for the damages."

Irene waved Elsa off and popped open the trunk, "My brother works at an auto body shop and will do it for free. Still try not to do this again? Anna you don't get to ride in the shopping cart for the next month as punishment alright?"

Anna sighed loudly, "That seems fair…can I come with you when you take the car to Uncle John's shop?"

"I suppose so."

"Awesome. And you don't hate me for hurting your pretty car do you?"

Irene rolled her eyes and pulled her daughter into a hug, pressing a sloppy kiss against Anna's forehead that made the teen groan unhappily, "Nothing could make me hate my gorgeous little wild child."

Elsa began loading the groceries into the trunk while mother and daughter discussing Anna's punishment. She felt guilty for denting Irene's car but she couldn't grasp how loosely Irene had reacted. She hadn't yelled, she hadn't threatened, and she had done well to ease Anna's fears of truly upsetting her mother. Until this moment Elsa hadn't believed that anyone could punish their child in a loving way. She hadn't even believed that children could be punished without physical violence being introduced.

"You're such a sweetheart Elsa. You didn't have to do that for me. Thank you." Irene smiled at her blond step daughter, all warmness and motherly love.

"You're welcome."

After putting up the showing carts, one now sporting a bent front end, they climbed into Irene's car for the ride home. Anna sat in the back with Elsa so they could discretely hold hands and cuddle against each other. Irene jokingly complained about being treated like a chauffer and forced them to listen to her country radio station as punishment for making her feel all alone up front. Aside from Irene singing along to random songs the ride home was fairly quiet. Since Irene refused to shop anyway but at her favorite supermarket it ended up being a long drive from their home. The sun outside had begun to set behind the tall mountains in the background by the time they pulling into the driveway at home. Elsa had expected to come home and have to deal with her father because of his rule about Anna and Elsa not being around each had been broken but she hadn't expected what they had come home to. Ashton was standing on the stoop looking furious to the point that his tan face was beginning to redden and his fists were clenching by his hips the way he did to stop himself from punching whatever was frustrating him. In front of him in the walkway stood Amelia holding Elsa's backpack she had forgotten in her mother's office earlier that day. She looked tense but otherwise emotionless unlike her wife who was standing beside her, yelling at Ashton about something indiscernible. Dread filled Elsa. If her mother had come to return her backpack then Ashton must know by now that she had snuck out to visit her mother.

Irene leaned forward over her steering wheel to get a better look at the two women standing in her walkway, "Those are some angry looking Jehovah's Witnesses."

Elsa would have smiled if she were so afraid of how her father would react to this after Irene and Anna had gone to bed, "Those aren't Jehovah's Witnesses Irene. Those are my…moms. I guess. Well one is my birth mother. The other is married to my birth mother."

Anna whistled lowly, "Seriously?"

Elsa nodded demurely, "Yeah."

Irene eyed them closely, "They dress like Jehovah's Witness people. All classy at all hours. Like…Jehovah's Lesbians." Irene cackled at her own joke which made Anna roll her eyes.

"You are _so not_ as funny as you think you are Mom."

"Excuse me." Elsa slipped out of the backseat and rounded the car to get a little closer to hear what her parents were fighting about. Amelia noticed Elsa from the corner of her eye and turned to give her daughter a shaky smile. Ashton noticed Elsa then and stormed down the steps back Amelia to get to Elsa first, clasping his meaty hand around Elsa's bare forearm in a bruising grip. She withheld the whimper of pain burning at the back of her throat.

"Where the hell have you been?" He hissed in her face just loud enough for Elsa to hear. She cowered beneath him. Behind her she heard gravel crunch and felt more than saw Ashton being pushed away. She watched her father trip over his foot and fall down in the walkway face first. Behind him Anna had gotten out of the car just in time to see her step father hit the gravel and gave a silent cheer which Irene reprimanded with a stern look before looking up to glare at the woman who had pushed her boyfriend. Amelia didn't even see Irene's angry look because all of her attention was on Elsa. She took a tentative step towards her daughter and held out the backpack between them like an olive branch.

"I'm sorry for earlier Elsa. It was a lot all at once. It was wrong of me to just dump all of that on you. I just came to return your backpack. If you decide that you want to talk to me after this then you do. If you don't then," Amelia's voice wobbled, full of painful emotion, "then you don't. I understand either way. I'll love you—" Amelia was cut off when Ashton stood up and shoved her away from Elsa similar to the way she had just shoved him.

"Oh fuck no. You do not," Isabella closed the gasp between herself and Ashton in three steps and shoved him a step back, "_touch _my _wife_ you _prick_."

Ashton appeared to have reached that point. Elsa had been privy to this point break many times in her life so she knew the signs better than anyone. There was a point where Ashton became so angry he just didn't care anymore and Isabella had pushed him to that point apparently. His fist finally came away from his hip and contacted harshly with Isabella's cheek. Behind him Irene gasped in shock, having never seen this side of her boyfriend before, and Anna just look exasperated if not a little afraid. Ashton had sparked a fear inside of Anna that night that had killed a little of the spunky girl's fire. She tried to hide it, tried to be that persons he promised to be for Elsa when Elsa needed her, but Elsa could tell that Anna was scared too. Isabella fell down into the walkway on her ass cradling her cheek in mouth hands, head turned down between her legs. Amelia all but screamed in fright and rushed to her wife, kneeling down to try and look but she couldn't pry Isabella's hands away from her face. Elsa could hear Isabella's labored breaths and her pained little noises.

"Riavani?" Amelia spoke through the tears coming down her face, wiping them away before they could get very far. Isabella mumbled something that was to quiet for Elsa to make out.

Ashton clenched his fists, preparing for another punch, "Get off my property. Now."

Amelia held up a shaking hand to shut up her ex husband, "Love I can't understand what you're saying."

Isabella took in a long breath and finally lifted her head, very slowly, "I think…my jaw is…broken."

"Oh my god." Amelia looked completely panicked now, torn beneath wanting to check for herself and calling paramedics.

Irene stared at her boyfriend through new eyes, hard emotionless eyes, before she turned them to the distraught couple kneeling in her walkway, "I'll take you to the hospital."

Amelia looked up at Irene, her watery eyes full of thanks and nodded shortly. Ashton whirled around and pointed a stern finger at his girlfriend, "Absolutely not. We do not cater to dykes in this household. They can pick themselves up and get off my property before I call the police."

Irene lifted a brow in contempt and scoffed, "Excuse me? Since when did you become a person that tells me how and what I do with my life? I do not belong to you. And another thing, where do you get off using that word in front of me? I do not judge others and I definitely don't like you using such a disgusting word. Least of all in front of my daughter whom I am proud to say is a bisexual. I will be driving these women to the hospital and you I will definitely be talking when I get back. I can not believe you Ashton. Who the hell are you?" She shook her head in disgust and turned away with another word to get back into the drivers seat of her car still full of groceries. Amelia walked past them helping Isabella along, looking up only once to mouth the words 'I love you' to Elsa. Elsa silently promised to call her mother back if not to agree to move in with her but to check in on Isabella's state. She felt horribly guilty for all of this. If she hadn't forgot her backpack then they wouldn't have had any reason to come here and thereby never would have been injured by Ashton. Her father watched Irene drive away with both Isabella and Amelia in the backseat, seething and near vibrating with rage. There was a moment of quiet in which Ashton was just angry and the two teen girls regarded him warily like a bomb waiting to go off. Finally he snapped and whirled on Elsa, furry alight in his crystalline eyes.

"How dare you fucking disobey me and go to your mother! This is your entire fucking fault you goddamn idiot! Why can't you ever...god! _I can't fucking stand you_!" He took a handful of her hair and bent her down, screaming against her ear, until his anger mounted and he brought his knee up to her face. She had enough practice to know she needed to turn her head else wise her nose would be broken like it had been when he had done this to her when she was younger. His knee crashed into her cheek and immense pain blossomed there but she held in the scream like she always had done. He brought his knee back to hit her again but then instead of that he howled and let her go. She looked up to see Anna standing there looking afraid but firm, her knuckles on the fist she held aloft scraped and blood from punching Ashton in the face. He was laid on the ground holding his face but looking more shocked than pained. Before he could retaliate she took Elsa's hand and pulled her into the house at a lighting speed. They could hear Ashton's thundering footsteps behind them but Anna had them behind her door before he could reach them. She flipped the locks and pulled Elsa into her arms, glaring at Ashton through the wood of the door.

"Let me in! Let me in this instant you little bitch!" Both of them closed their eyes and pretended not to hear them. They only had to stay in here until Irene came home. He'd stop as soon as Irene came home. They hugged each other tightly and thought only of when Irene came home.

**Sorry guys! I typed it out really really quick so I apologize if it sucks! Thanks as always for reading! **


End file.
